Softball Splits Twinbill with Curry

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University softball team finished its regular-season home schedule by splitting a doubleheader on Tuesday.

The Bears took the opener, 9-8, in eight innings over Curry College before losing the nightcap, 10-4, in a game that was stopped in the middle of the seventh inning due to darkness.

BSU (16-16) plays its final three doubleheaders on the road, starting Wednesday at 3 p.m. when it faces Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy.

Curry (15-17) will host Roger Williams in a doubleheader at noon on Saturday.

The Bears lead the series with Curry, which began in 2016, 10-3-1.

Game One: Bridgewater State 9, Curry 8 (8 Inn.)

The Bears built a 6-1 lead, then gave up seven runs in the sixth and seventh innings before tying the game in the bottom of the seventh.

BSU scored two unearned runs in the seventh and another unearned run in the eighth for the win.

The Bears had seven hits with Sydney Schaefer (Swarthmore, Pa.) getting a pair of doubles. Winning pitcher Olivia Hargreaves (Weare, N.H.) improved to 4-4 with 2 2/3 innings of relief.

Trailing, 8-6, entering the bottom of the seventh, the Bears got a one-out double from Schaefer, who moved to third on a wild pitch.

Janet Jolly (Raynham, Mass.) reached on a fielder's choice. Schaefer scored on an errant throw to home to make it 8-7.

Emily Eastman (Cranston, R.I.) then reached on an infield error which scored Jolly with the tying run.

In the eighth, Kailey Collins-Fiore (LaGrange, N.Y.) began the inning on second base and went to third on a single by Savanah DuBois (New Bedford, Mass.). An infield error on a ball hit by Kyleah Plumb (Taunton, Mass.) scored the game-winning run.

The teams combined for 13 errors with the Colonels committing seven.

BSU took a 3-0 lead in the first with Victoria Becker (Abington, Mass.) singling in the first run, Schaefer following with an RBI double and Eastman getting and RBI single.

The Bears went up, 4-0, in the second with an unearned run before Curry scored its first run in the third on an RBI single by Jordan Ferullo (Burlington, Mass.).

BSU went ahead, 6-1, in the fourth as DuBois walked and Plumb bunted for a hit. An error on a ball hit by Makayla Ansell (Menifee, Calif.) brought them home.

But Curry began the comeback in the sixth, scoring three times.

An infield error allowed Renee Gonneville (Saco, Maine) to score before Caitlyn Wood (Saugus, Mass.) walked with the bases loaded and Karlie Pontes (Dartmouth, Mass.) singled through the left side for an RBI.

The Colonels scored four runs on six hits in the seventh to take the lead.

Jillian Rogers (East Freetown, Mass.) doubled to center for a run, an error brought in the tying run and RBI singles by Natalia O'Kleasky (Coventry, R.I.) and Hailey King (Cranston, R.I.) opened a two-run lead.

Gonneville and Ferullo had two hits each for Curry, which had 10 hits.

Game 2: Curry 10, Bridgewater State 4

The Colonels jumped to a 7-0 lead after three innings and added three runs in the top of the seventh.

O'Kleasky had a two-run double in the first and a two-run single in the five-run third inning.

A groundout brought in another run in the third and Gracie Keyes (Portsmouth, R.I.) had a two-run single to left center.

BSU got on the board in the fourth when an infield hit by Schaefer scored Ansell, who had doubled to left.

The Bears scored twice in the fifth on a two-run single by Ansell after Lily Gagnon (East Haven, Conn.) reached on an error and Olyvia Mendonca (Taunton, Mass.) singled to right.

BSU edged closer at 7-4 in the sixth when Schaefer tripled to left-center and scored on a double to left-center by Sidney Schwartz (Chelmsford, Mass.).

Curry got a homer from Taylor McDermott (Durham, Conn.) in the seventh and a pair of runs that scored on an infield error.

The Bears had seven hits with Ansell and Schaefer getting two each.

McDermott, Morgan Barmash (Woburn, Mass.) and O'Kleasky had two hits each for Curry.