Bucknell University
Longwood
Late Runs Cost Bucknell Softball in Longwood Doubleheader
3/13/2021 9:45:00 PM | Softball
FARMVILLE, Va. – The Bucknell softball team entered the seventh inning tied with the Longwood Lancers in both games of Saturday's doubleheader in Farmville, Va., but both times the Lancers found walk-off hits to take a 2-0 lead in the weekend series. Sophomore Chase Knapp finished the day 3-for-7 with four RBIs, and rookie Zoie Smith went 3-for-7 with three RBIs. As a team, the Bison played error-free softball on Saturday.
"There's a little bit of frustration, but not panic. We have some things we need to clean up and get better at, but we were competitive in both games," said head coach Sarah Caffrey. "We want to win every game that we play, and we're a really competitive group, so I think there's frustration just because we hate to lose. There's also a lot of positivity and there are a lot of good things that are happening. We've just got to digest this and get back to it tomorrow."
Bucknell (2-2) returns to play on Sunday for a third game against Longwood (8-13), which is scheduled to begin at noon.
Game One: Longwood 4, Bucknell 3
Bucknell jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first game before Longwood tied it up at 3-3 in the third inning. The two teams went scoreless during the fourth, fifth and sixth before the Lancers hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh to win the game.
The Bison scoring was kicked off by Smith, who hit her second home run of the season in her first at-bat of the day to put the Bison up 2-0 in the first inning. Bucknell extended its lead to 3-0 in the second when Knapp led off the inning with a double down the left field line, then scored on a Kailyn Lorberter single to right. The Lancers responded with one run in the bottom of the second and two in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 3-3.
The pitchers went to work in the second half of the game as both teams went scoreless for three consecutive innings. The scoring drought was snapped in the bottom of the seventh when Longwood's Alexis Wayland hit a two-out double, and then scored on a Nia Green single that won the game for the Lancers.
With the loss, sophomore Kaiya Burton moved to 1-1 on the season in the circle. She posted five strikeouts while allowing six hits in 6.2 innings.
Game Two: Longwood 9, Bucknell 7
The Bison were on the board first in the second game as well, scoring on an error to go up 1-0 during their first trip to the plate. Longwood scored six unanswered runs in the bottom of the second and third innings to take its largest lead of the day at 6-1.
Bucknell came right back and tied the game in the top of the third with its highest-scoring inning of the young season. An RBI double by Smith scored the first run, and then a grand slam by Knapp evened the score at 6-all with one swing. It was the second home run of the sophomore's career. Longwood then took a 7-6 lead with a home run in the bottom of the inning, and both teams went scoreless during the fourth and fifth.
Needing to score to tie the game in the sixth, Bucknell got both Jess Hom and Taylor Wolfgang on base with walks. With one out, Hom stole third and continued on her way home after the Lancers committed an error on the throw, tying the score at 7-7. Bucknell was unable to take the lead in the top of the seventh, and Longwood's Green hit a home run in the bottom of the inning for her second walk-off hit of the evening.
"We're one or two pitches away from having a really good game. We've had a couple of games where we just miss a couple of spots, and that kind of hurts us. Overall, it's just a couple of key items. I really like the way we're playing right now. We're being really aggressive and doing good things," said Caffrey.
