Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Army
Bucknell Softball Sweeps Army in Doubleheader, 6-2 & 7-0
4/20/2008 8:00:00 AM | Softball
April 20, 2008
Game 1 Box Score: Bucknell 6, Army 2 | Game 2 Box Score: Bucknell 7, Army 0 | Photo Gallery 
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell softball team closed out a four-game series with Army with a sweep of a doubleheader on Sunday, defeating the Black Knights 6-2 in game one and 7-0 in game two, which was plagued by a two-hour rain delay. The Bison won three of the four games in the weekend series.
In game one, Christie Wiest (Centre Hall, Pa./Penns Valley) picked up her career-high 10th win of the season as she allowed six hits and two runs while striking out a season high-tying eight. The bottom third of the Bison lineup - Kristin Frick (West Chester, Pa./Bishop Shanahan), Mary Pavlovich (Johnstown, Pa./Richland) and Sam Rollandi (San Carlos, Calif./Notre Dame Belmont - went a combined 6-for-7 with four runs scored and two runs batted in.
Game two, which was delayed for approximately two hours due to lightning and rain following the bottom of the fourth with Bucknell leading 4-0, featured another splendid pitching performance for the Bison as Katie McDonald (York, Pa./West York Area) hurled her first career shutout to improve to 8-13 on the year. She yielded just five hits and three walks and struck out five. Lauren Fry (South Plainfield, N.J./South Plainfield) and Frick both had three hits in the game with Fry driving in a career-high five runs. Frick, who was 5-for-6 in the doubleheader and saw her average go from .208 to .278, scored three runs in the nightcap to bring her daily total to five.
The two wins helped Bucknell improve to 18-27 on the season, its most wins since accumulating 19 in 2001. Additionally, the Bison jumped to 9-7 in Patriot League play, their most conference victories since going 12-8 in 1999. Bucknell has not solidified its first Patriot League Tournament berth since 2005, but it sits firmly in third place, three games ahead of Colgate and four ahead of Army. The Black Knights fell to 10-34 and 5-11 in the Patriot League with the two losses Sunday.
Bucknell registered 10 hits in game one and did not score until the first time the bottom third of the order batted in the bottom of the third. Frick and Pavlovich singled and doubled, putting two runners in scoring position with none out. Rollandi drove home Frick with a single through the left side, while Pavlovich scored on a double play grounder by Fry to put the Bison up 2-0.
Bucknell added a single run in the fourth when Erin Curatola (River Edge, N.J./River Dell), who remained at 31RBIs this season, scored from third when Elyse Colmenero (Fresno, Calif./Central) got caught in a run down.
The Bison plated two more runs in the fifth with Frick leading off the frame with her first career home run and Pavlovich later putting them up 5-1 with an unearned run. Another unearned run came in the sixth, giving Bucknell its final 6-2 margin of victory.
Colmenero, who was hitting cleanup, had two hits to combine with the bottom third of the lineup for eight of Bucknell's 10 hits.
Jessi Muckelroy (1-9) and Nicole Talarczyk each pitched three innings for Army with Muckelroy leaving after giving up Colmenero's second hit of the game in the fourth inning.
McDonald pitched solidly in game two to help the Bison to their third victory of the weekend. She retired the Black Knights in order just twice, but was able to work out of a number of jams without giving up a run. In fact, Army had runners on second and third in the first and seventh innings and the bases loaded in the fifth, but failed to score each time.
Fry had one of the best games of her young career, going 3-for-4 with five RBIs and one runs scored. She had an RBI single in the second, a two-run home run the other way to left field in the fourth and a two-run single in the sixth that put Bucknell up by its final 7-0 margin. Fry's average rose to a team-best .344 after her performance in the leadoff hole.
Frick was solid again, going 3-for-3 with two singles and a triple. She scored three times with Fry driving her in twice.
Fry's home run put Bucknell up 4-0 with two outs in the fourth inning. At the end of that frame lightning was detected in the area and the teams cleared the field. Shortly after, a steady rain started falling, delaying the game for two hours.
The Bison offense tacked on three more runs in the sixth after going down 1-2-3 in the fifth. In addition to Fry's two-run single that slowly rolled between first and second, Alison Ford had a pinch-hit double that one-hopped the fence in left, scoring Frick.
Veronica Barth (7-14) pitched the complete game for Army and struck out seven, but was touched for seven runs and 10 hits. Just one run was unearned as the Black Knights committed a pair of errors.
Melissa Garza and Erin McClain combined for six of Army's 11 hits in the doubleheader. Garza was 2-for-3 in game one and 1-for-2 in game two, while McClain's numbers were reversed, going 1-for-2 in game one and 2-for-3 in game two.
Bucknell will now be idle until next weekend when it wraps up the regular season with a four-game home series against Holy Cross. Doubleheaders both Saturday and Sunday will begin at 12 p.m.
