McCarthy Tosses No-Hitter to Lead Softball to Split

NAPLES, Fla. -- Kelly McCarthy tossed the second no-hitter of her career to lead the Bridgewater State University softball team to an 8-0 victory over Northland College on Wednesday morning at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Naples, Florida.

The Bears (3-5) dropped a 6-2 decision to Kenyon College in their second game of the day.

McCarthy (2-2), who fanned four, retired 15 of the 17 batters she faced. She also went 2-for-3 at the plate including her first home run of the season.

Courtney Leddy also finished with multiple hits for the Bears. Leddy went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI.

Bridgewater State plated at least one run in each of the five innings. Samantha LoPilato ended the game with a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth inning as the game was stopped due to the eight-run mercy rule. LoPilato reached safely in both of her plate appearances as she also walked.

McCarthy also tossed a five-inning, no-hitter last season in Florida against Mount Mary University.

Trailing 2-0 against Kenyon, the Bears rallied for a run in the fourth and another in the fifth to knot the score.

Cassidy Morrow brought in Morgan Cox with an RBI groundout in the fourth, while McCarthy doubled home Courtney Leddy in the fifth. The Bears had a chance to take the lead but had a runner gunned down at the plate after attempting to score on a fly out.

Kenyon quickly regained the lead in the home half of the fifth. With runners on the corners and one out, Grace Pilz delivered an RBI groundout scoring Jane Ghublikian. Mari Colucci followed with an RBI single extending the advantage to 4-2.

Kenyon tacked on two more runs in the sixth to account for the final score of 6-2.

Austen Whibley went the distance in the circle for the Ladies as she scattered ten hits. Whibley (2-2) struck out six and did not issue a walk.

Kathleen Bailey was saddled with the loss in the complete game effort for the Bears. Bailey (1-2) gave up six runs (five earned) on ten hits. She walked one and fanned three.

Jenny Heller went 3-for-3 at the plate to highlight the BSU offense. Leddy (2-for-4) and Karissa Pagan (2-for-4) also finished with multiple hits for the Bears who banged out ten hits in the game.

The Bears wrap up their Florida trip on Thursday morning with a pair of games against Nazareth College and Rockford University starting at 9:00 AM.