Softball Downs Albright, 4-2, Falls to Bethany Lutheran, 7-6, in 8 Innings

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – The Bridgewater State University softball team split a pair of games on Wednesday afternoon in Cape Coral, Florida.  The Bears (2-4) dropped a 7-6 decision in eight innings to Bethany Lutheran College before rebounding with a 4-2 victory over Albright College.

In the 4-2 win over Albright, Megan Dunn (Colchester, Conn.) picked up her first win of the season as she went the distance giving up two runs only one of which was earned.  Dunn (1-2) scattered nine hits, walked two and fanned three.

Trailing 1-0 early, the Bears pushed across two runs in the top of the fourth on Jocelyn Bettencourt's (Plymouth, Mass.) RBI fielder's choice grounder and a run scoring double by Melissa Harmon (Shrewsbury, Mass.). After Albright tied the game at 2-2 with an unearned run in the bottom half of the inning, the Bears reclaimed the lead in the top of the fifth on Dunn's two-run single.

Aubrey Koch suffered the loss for Lions in the complete game effort.  Koch (0-3) gave up four runs (two earned) on eight hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

Earlier in the day, the Bears committed three errors which led to six unearned runs in the 7-6, eight-inning setback to Bethany Lutheran.

Bridgewater scored six time over the first three inning to take a 6-1 advantage, but watched that lead slowly disappear.

Bethany Lutheran plated four unearned runs in the fourth off BSU starter Amber White (Middleboro, Mass.) to pull to within 6-5.  The Vikings loaded the bases with two outs when back-to-back BSU errors brought in all three runners.  A double steal would cap of the rally.

The Vikings would tie it in the sixth thanks to another costly Bridgewater State miscue.  Nicole Starkson singled with nobody out and came all the way around to score from first when Kelsey Pekarna reached on an error.  White would avoid any further damage in the frame by fanning the next three batters.

Bethany Lutheran would win it in the bottom of the eighth when Pekarna, who started the inning on second base, scored the winning run on Angela Timm's sacrifice fly to center.

White worked six plus innings giving up six runs (one earned) on eight hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.  Dunn (1-2) came on with a runner on second and nobody out in the seventh and worked out the jam, but was tagged with the loss after giving up the game-winning sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Brianna Strecker (Waterford, Conn.) went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored to highlight the Bears' 11-hit attack.  Courtney Gregoire (Dartmouth, Mass.) also had two hits as she finished 2-for-4 with a pair of singles.

Shannon Heitz picked up the win in the circle for the Vikings as she went the distance allowing six runs (five earned) on 11 hits.  She hit two batters, walked one and fanned three.

Bridgewater State returns to action on Thursday morning when the Bears take on Medialle College (9:00 AM) and Drew University (11:00 AM).