Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Saint Peter's
Softball Posts Wins Over Saint Peter's and Albany
3/12/2015 11:05:00 PM | Softball
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Bucknell softball received two quality pitching performances on its way to a pair of wins in Winter Haven, Florida on Thursday. The Bison edged Saint Peter's 3-2 in nine innings to start the day, and made it back-to-back wins with an 8-3 victory over Albany in the second game.
Bucknell improved to 15-9 with the two wins. The Bison will conclude their Florida trip with two more games on Friday. They are scheduled to play Valparaiso (3-11) at 10 a.m. and Hampton (3-11) at 12:15 p.m.
Saint Peter's fell to 0-3 on the season, and Albany dropped to 6-5 overall.
Bucknell 3, Saint Peter's 2 (9 innings)
Junior Dana Nielsen pitched all nine innings, and junior Mariah Midyette drove in the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly to help the Bison improve to 2-1 in extra-inning games this season.
The teams battled to a 1-1 tie through seven innings before each plating a run in the eighth. With international tiebreaker rules in effect for extra innings, freshman Paulina Gutkin started the bottom of the ninth on second base for Bucknell. She advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by senior Erin Cox and then scored on Midyette's fly ball to left field.
The Bison gave up a run in the top of the eighth, but stayed alive by scoring a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Sophomore Carolyn Wan started the inning on second base and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Amanda Fazio. She scored the tying run when the Saint Peter's catcher attempted to pick her off third base and threw the ball into left field.
The Bison also had a big defensive play in extra innings. With one out and a runner on third, the ball was hit to sophomore Jacee Almond at second base. Almond delivered a strike home, where sophomore catcher Christina Martinez made the tag for the second out. Nielsen got the next batter to fly out to center to end the threat.
Nielsen gave up just one earned run while working all nine innings for her first complete game of the season. She allowed six hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out six. For the season, she has an outstanding 33 strikeouts to just nine walks.
The Bison only managed four hits in the game, but showed patience at the plate with four walks and a hit-by-pitch. Senior Kristen Zahn singled and doubled, while Midyette and Fazio had one single apiece. Martinez walked twice.
Bucknell 8, Albany 3
Senior Cydnee Sanders went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, and Amanda Fazio struck out 10 while pitching her seventh complete game of the season to lift Bucknell to its second win of the day.
The Bison trailed 1-0 after two innings before rallying for four runs in the third and three in the fourth. They finished with 10 hits. Zahn had three singles and two RBIs, while Mariah Midyette singled twice. Fazio and freshman Kamille Larrabee chipped in with one single apiece.
Fazio gave up 12 hits but used the double-digit strikeouts to limit the damage. She allowed three earned runs and walked just one batter. Fazio upped her record to 9-4 on the season.
