Softball Sweeps Eastern Nazarene

By Jim Fenton

QUINCY, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University softball team finished the non-conference portion of its schedule by sweeping a doubleheader.

The Bears took a pair of games from Eastern Nazarene College, 8-4 and 9-7, at Mitchell/McCoy Field on Wednesday afternoon.

BSU (18-16) finishes the season with MASCAC road twinbills against the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Westfield State University on May 4.

The Bears used an eight-run third inning to defeat the Lions in the opener and overcame an early 3-1 deficit to take the second game.

Game One: Bridgewater State 8, Eastern Nazarene 4

BSU did all of its scoring in the third when it had eight of their 12 hits.

With the game scoreless, the Bears sent 13 batters to the plate and took advantage of a pair of Eastern Nazarene errors.

Makayla Ansell (Menifee, Calif.) singled down the left-field line, Victoria Becker (Abington, Mass.) singled to center and Sydney Schaefer (Swarthmore, Pa.) walked to load the bases.

Riley Fitzgerald (Swansea, Mass.) singled in the first run and Janet Jolly (Raynham, Mass.) reached on a dropped fly ball on what would have been a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.

Katie Tobin (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) singled in a run and Emily Eastman (Cranston, R.I.) reached on a fielder's choice with Jolly scoring on a throwing error.

Kailey Collins-Fiore (LaGrange, N.Y.) singled to left for a 5-0 advantage, and after a bunt single by Emily Marcotte (North Dighton, Mass.), Ansell singled down the left-field line for two more runs.

The scoring concluded when Schaefer singled to left.

BSU was limited to two hits the rest of the game. Marcotte, Ansell, Schaefer and Eastman had two hits apiece for BSU.

The Lions scored three times in the bottom of the third.

Leah Saunders (Smithfield, R.I.) singled up the middle, Bailey Olaveson (Lakeside, Calif.) singled to left and Abby Stansbury (Warren, Ore.) doubled in a run.

Faith Bonar (Omaha, Neb.) brought in the second run with a sacrifice fly and Izabel Pozar (Flagstaff, Ariz.) doubled to left with two outs for a run.

Eastern Nazarene added a run in the sixth as Danielle Maliszewski (Torrington, Conn.) singled and scored on a double to left by Olaveson with two outs.

Winning pitcher McKayla Cusack (West Haven, Conn.) improved to 3-3, striking out four.

Game Two: Bridgewater State 9, Eastern Nazarene 7

The Bears trailed, 3-1, after three innings but scored two runs each in the fourth and fifth innings and added four in the seventh.

The Lions scored three in the bottom of the inning and had two runners on base when the final out was made.

The 13-hit attack by BSU was led by Ansell, who went 4-for-5 and drove in three runs.

Contributing two hits each were Schaefer (two RBI), Eastman and Kyleah Plumb (Taunton, Mass.).

Winning pitcher Olivia Hargreaves (Weare, N.H.) improved to 6-4, going 6 2-3 innings.

BSU took a 1-0 lead in the third when Schaefer singled to center to score Plumb, who had reached on an error and advanced on an Ansell single.

The Lions took their 3-1 lead in the bottom of the inning on an RBI bunt single by Saunders, a run-scoring double to left by Olaveson and an RBI single by Stansbury.

The Bears tied the game in the fourth on a two-run single to left by Ansell with two outs, scoring Sidney Schwartz (Chelmsford, Mass.), who had singled, and Tobin, who had walked.

BSU took the lead for good in the fifth as doubles by Becker and Schaefer scored one run and a throwing error brought Schaefer home.

Eastern Nazarene scored an unearned run in the fifth to close within 5-4.

The Bears scored all four runs in the seventh inning with two outs.

Becker walked, stole second and scored on an Eastman single to right.

Schwartz was hit by a pitch and Tobin reached on an infield error. Pinch hitter Lily Gioiosa (Dartmouth, Mass.) drew a bases-loaded walk and singles by Plumb and Ansell drove in runs.

The Lions got three in their final at-bat when a dropped fly ball with the bases loaded score one run, a wild pitch bringing in Olaveson and Christina Housley (Virginia Beach, Va.) getting an RBI infield hit.

Olyvia Mendonca (Taunton, Mass.) came on for Hargreaves with the tying run on base and retired the only batter she faced for her first save in a BSU uniform. 

Eastern Nazarene (9-23) hosts Lesley in a doubleheader on Saturday at noon to end the regular season.