Softball drops pair of tough games at Bridgewater State

Bridgewater, MA- The MCLA Softball team dropped a pair of MASCAC games this afternoon at Bridgewater State as the Bears took game one 1-0 before BSU took the nightcap 7-3.  With the results, the Bears move to 12-18 overall and are 4-6 in league play.  MCLA drops to 5-22 overall and is 2-8 in the conference.

Game One-

The opener was a great pitching matchup between MCLA's Morgan Watson and BSU's Mackenzie Holt.  Neither team could muster up much offense and the game was scoreless into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Bridgewater had the first three hitters single to load the bases without an out.  Watson would buckle down however and get Kacie Carvalho and Courtney Leddy for the first two outs.  After getting ahead 0-2 in the count to Shannon Grindle, Watson would throw four straight balls allowing pinch runner Alexandra Zoebisch to score the game winning run.

Watson was the tough luck loser going 6.2 innings and allowing 8 hits and collecting three strikeouts.  MCLA could muster just four hits off Holt in the loss.

The Bears were paced by Breanna Shaffer's 2-3 day and Holt did the rest.  She struck out five Trailblazers to secure the win for BSU.

Game Two-

Both teams struggled to score in game one, but game two started off on all cylinders.  MCLA finally got on the board scoring three times in the top of the first for an early 3-0 lead.  Erika Quackenbush drove in the first run for MCLA and then the Trailblazers took advantage of a miscue for their other two runs.

The lead was shortlived however as the Bears matched MCLA in the bottom half scoring four times.  Grindle had an RBI single while another scored on a Trailblazer error.  A pair of sac flies made it 4-3 until the second inning.  Grindle again had the RBI making it 5-3 in favor of the Bears.

They would add two more insurance runs in the sixth inning before MCLA made it interesting in the seventh.  The Trailblazers scored a run as Kaitlyn Berghela drove home Watson and MCLA was looking for more until a double play halted the threat.  BSU then recorded a force out to close out the win.

Kara Adams absorbed the loss for MCLA going 5.2 innings and allowing just one earned run.  Berghela had a pair of hits for MCLA.

The Trailblazers are back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Westfield State at 2pm.