Softball Splits Pair of Games in Fort Myers

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Bridgewater State University softball team split a pair of games on Monday afternoon at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Fort Myers, Florida.

The Bears (1-3) posted a 7-6 victory over Eastern Nazarene College before dropping a 9-6 decision to Marian University.

In the opener, Eastern Nazarene used a six-run, third inning to take a 6-2 lead. The Lions banged out five hits in the frame and took advantage of a pair of BSU errors as four of the six runs were unearned.

The Bears quickly answered with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth on a clutch two-out, two-run single by Tara McCann.

The score stood 6-4 into the sixth when the Bears rallied for three runs to take the 7-6 lead. Bridgewater capitalized on two key errors in the frame.

With one out, Courtney Leddy reached on an error and moved to second on a walk to Karissa Pagan. Following an out, Leddy and Pagan moved up a base on a passed ball and both came around to score when the ENC catcher compounded the mistake by throwing wildly to third. Kelly McCarthy kept the inning going with a base hit and advanced to second on a passed ball. Morgan Cox then smacked a double to plate McCarthy with the go-ahead run.

McCarthy, who came on in relief to start the fourth inning, pitched around a walk in the sixth inning and a hit batsmen in the seventh to secure the win.

McCarthy (1-1) hurled four scoreless innings in relief to pick up her first win of the season. She also went 3-for-4 at the plate and scored the winning run.

Cox finished 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI, while McCann singled and walked in four plate appearances and drove in four runs.

Heidi Gomez picked up the loss in the circle for the Lions. Gomez (1-1) went the distance giving up seven runs on nine hits and seven walks with five strikeouts. Only two of the seven runs were earned.

In the setback to Marian, Bridgewater trailed 7-2 after three innings of play but rallied for four runs in the top of the fourth inning to make it a one-run game.

Samantha LoPilato singled home Kacie Carvalho with the first run while McCarthy had a key two-out, two-run single. An RBI single by Cox capped off the scoring in the inning. The Bears took advantage of a pair of errors in the frame as three of the four runs were unearned.

The Sabres added a key insurance run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Nicole LaBeck and another in the sixth on an RBI single by Tana Vanden Heuvel to close out the scoring.

LaBeck finished 2-for-2 with a triple and four RBI to highlight the Sabres' offensive attack. Sara Terrian also had multiple hits for Marian as she went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored.

McCarthy singled twice and walked in four plate appearances to lead the Bears. Cox finished with three RBI.