Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Saint Louis (Rebel Spring Games)
Bucknell Softball Swept by Saint Louis on Final Day of Rebel Spring Games
3/17/2006 7:00:00 AM | Softball
March 17, 2006
Bucknell vs. Saint Louis Box Score - Game 1
Bucknell vs. Saint Louis Box Score - Game 2
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - The Bucknell softball team wrapped up play at the week-long Rebel Spring Games Friday morning with a pair of losses to Saint Louis. The Billikens defeated the Bison 6-1 in the opener and 10-2 in five innings in the nightcap. Bucknell, which finished the week with a 3-7 record, lost its final five games on its annual spring break trip.
Christie Wiest (Centre Hall, Pa./Penns Valley) (1-6) started the opener for the Bison and pitched a solid 5.0 innings and tied her career high with six strikeouts. However, she yielded five hits and five runs, although just three were earned as the Bison defense committed three errors in the contest.
After walking Jill Pursell to lead off the game, Wiest gave up a pair of one-out singles to allow Saint Louis to take an early 1-0 lead. Ashleigh Williams, who was 2-for-4 with three runs batted in, knocked home the first-inning run. She later smacked a two-run double in the fifth inning.
Bucknell (3-17) answered with one run in the bottom of the first when Ashley Carlson (Fairless Hills, Pa./Pennsbury), Lauren Wible (Dover, Pa./Dover) and Lauren Litts (East Stroudsburg, Pa./East Stroudsburg) got back-to-back-to-back singles with Litts driving in Carlson with the tying run. The hit extended Litts' hitting streak to seven games, although she would go 0-for-2 in the second game to see the streak come to an end.
That was the only run the Bison would score, although they threatened in the fourth when Litts led off the inning with a line-drive double to left field and Kris Devore (Washington, D.C./Trinity) got hit by a pitch. The next two hitters got out, but then Cassie Lloyd (Mifflinburg, Pa./Mifflinburg) reached on an infield single to load the bases for Ashley Beans (Hanover, Pa./Hanover). Beans hit a sharp grounder, but it was fielded cleanly by Ashlee Heady. Bucknell left a total of 11 runners on base, including the three in the fourth.
Saint Louis continued to tack on runs against Wiest and reliever Tanya Roth (Mountain Lakes, N.J./Mountain Lakes) with single runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings, and two in the fifth.
Bucknell posted eight hits in the game to match the Billikens. In addition to Litts' 2-for-3 performance, Carlson had a strong game with a 3-for-3 showing. She reached base in all four of her plate appearances as she also drew one walk.
Lorena Floccari started for Saint Louis and went five innings as she scattered seven hits, but walked just one. Erica May pitched the final two innings and allowed four hitters to reach base, but the Bison could not touch her for a run.
In addition to Williams, Ashlee Heady, who was 2-for-4 with 1 RBI, and Christy Ernst, who was on base three times and scored a run each time, helped lead the Billikens to victory.
Minutes after the first game ended, Bucknell took a 2-0 lead in game two as Wible and Devore had RBI doubles in the first inning. The extra-base hit helped Devore extend her hitting streak to seven games. She leads the team with a .357 batting average.
Ashley Levan, who got the win while pitching a complete game for Saint Louis, settled down after that and yielded just three more baserunners the rest of the game, with two of them coming on back-to-back singles by Damara Farkas (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) and Monica Grinage (Braddock, Pa./Shady Side) in the fifth inning. Levan allowed just six hits, two runs and no walks while striking out eight.
Meg Muirhead (Glendale, Calif./Flintridge Academy) (1-6) and Meaghan Haley (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley) shared duties in the circle for the Bison. Each went 2.1 innings. Muirhead gave up eight hits, five runs and one walk. Just two of the runs were earned. Haley yielded five hits, five runs, all earned, and three walks. Haley entered the game with two runners on and one out. She walked the first batter she faced, but ot Pursell to ground into a fielder's choice and Ernst to line out to second to keep the score 5-2 and leave the bases loaded.
Saint Louis scored in every inning but the third, including four in the second, as it pounded out 13 hits in the contest. The Billikens led just 7-2 entering the bottom of the fifth, but they pushed across two runs on a one-out RBI double by Ashlee Heady. Heady was 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs in game two of the doubleheader after going 2-for-4 with one RBI in game one. Logan Justice then ended the game on the eight-run rule with a two-out looping single into short right field, scoring Heady.
Bucknell, which opened the Rebel Spring Games with a 3-2 record before dropping its final five games, opens its home campaign next Saturday, March 25, with a doubleheader against Maryland-Eastern Shore.
