Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Niagara
Softball Splits Two Games for the Third Straight Day
3/11/2015 12:24:00 AM | Softball
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Bucknell softball team split a pair of games for the third straight day of the Rebel Spring Games on Tuesday. The Bison held on for a 5-3 win over Niagara in the first game thanks to a great pitching performance by sophomore Lara Bean, and were edged 2-1 by Northern Illinois in the second game.
Bucknell (13-9) will have Wednesday off before returning to the field for two more games on Thursday. The Bison will play Saint Peter's (0-2) at 10 a.m., and will take on Albany (5-4) at 12:15 p.m.
Bucknell 5, Niagara 3
Bean notched her first win of the season, striking out 10 batters in 5 2/3 innings of work to lead the Bison to their second win over the Purple Eagles in as many days. She allowed three runs on five hits and three walks.
Junior Dana Nielsen didn't allow a baserunner in her 1 1/3 innings in the circle. She picked up her first save of the season and the second for the Bison as a team.
Bean shook off a rocky start as Niagara's Katelyn Gruarin led off with a home run for the second straight game against the Bison. Bean walked the next batter but responded by striking out 10 of the next 16 batters.
Bucknell went down in order in the first inning but took the lead with three runs in the second. Senior Kristen Zahn led off with a single and scored on a double by freshman Meghan Kovac. Senior Erin Cox followed with a double that plated Kovac. Cox would go on to score the third run of the inning.
The Bison added a run in the third inning and went up 5-1 with two runs in the fifth. The Purple Eagles closed the gap with two runs in the sixth before Nielsen came in to record the save.
Senior Colie Escobar joined Kovac and Cox to give the Bison three extra-base hits in the game, all of which were doubles. Junior Amanda Fazio went 2-for-3 with two singles to run her hitting streak to seven games, while senior Cydnee Sanders added a single.
Northern Illinois 2, Bucknell 1
Fazio pitched a solid game, but Bucknell couldn't get the bats going in the second game, falling to Northern Illinois 2-1. She went the distance for the sixth time this season, giving up just one earned run on seven hits and one walk while striking out six.
All three runs came in the first two innings. Bucknell struck first with one run in the top of the first as Sanders scored on a two-out single by Kovac. The lead was short lived as Northern Illinois tied the game with a run in the bottom half of the frame.
Alaynie Woolard led off the bottom of the second with a single. She stole second and third before advancing on an error to score the eventual game-winning run for the Huskies (8-9).
Bucknell finished with five hits. Kovac doubled and singled, Sanders singled twice, and Cox had one single. Kovac upped her hitting streak to five games, while Fazio's came to an end at seven.
