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Softball
Bonnies drop two in doubleheader at Charlotte
April 6, 2008
Final Stats - Game One
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - After weather forced the cancellation of last weekend's Atlantic 10 series with George Washington and rain moved Saturday's scheduled doubleheader in Charlotte to this afternoon, the St. Bonaventure softball team returned to the diamond following a 15-day break with a pair of losses to the 49ers at the Phillips Complex. Charlotte plated a run in the bottom of the seventh to notch a 3-2 victory in the opener before a four-run offensive outburst in the first two innings of the nightcap led to a 6-4 game two triumph and the series sweep. The Bonnies fall to 8-12 (3-3) following today's two defeats down south, while the 49ers picked up their ninth straight home win of the season to improve to 22-19 (5-3) in the 2008 campaign. The Bonnies 15-day layoff may haven been a factor in the early stages of the afternoon as the Brown and White managed just three hits in game one, while committing three errors leading to a pair of 49er runs. Despite allowing only one earned run and three tallies overall, sophomore Sherri Thompson dropped to 6-5 on the year after giving up 10 hits in 6.2 innings of work in part to the lack of run support from the offense. Charlotte wasted little time in lighting up the scoreboard as the 49ers tallied runs in the first and third to take an early 2-0 advantage over the visiting Bonnies. Junior Jaime West plated her club's first run with an RBI double before fellow classmate Sarah Marlene crossed the plate an inning later following an error by Thompson. Trailing 2-0 with only two frames remaining, senior Brianna Bricker mashed a two-run home run over the left field fence to even the count at 2-2 in the top of the sixth. The Albion, Pa. native's fourth yard ball of the season moved her into a tie for first place on the all-time St. Bonaventure home run chart with 21 career bombs. Bricker shares the distinction with 2003 graduate Tricia Hildebrand.
However, the 49ers responded in the bottom of the seventh as an error at first base prolonged the inning before West singled to left field for her second RBI of the contest to clinch the 3-2 win. The Bona bats warmed up in game two to the tune of nine hits and four runs, but it wasn't enough to overcome a three-run Charlotte first inning in a 6-4 loss in the nightcap. Despite falling behind early, the Brown and White tallied runs in back-to-back innings to trim the 49er advantage to 4-2 following three innings of play. Freshman Shelley Seeger brought in her first of two RBI on the afternoon with a two-out single to left field scoring sophomore Stephanie Narde in the second followed by a Kirstin Strong RBI single in the third to trim the Bona deficit to two runs. Just as the Bonnies were clawing their way back into the game, Charlotte registered a pair of runs in the fourth to extend its lead to 6-2. The fourth frame also signaled the end for freshman pitcher Sarah Signore's (1-4) day in the circle as she was pulled in favor of Thompson after conceding nine hits and six runs through 3.2 innings of work. St. Bonaventure added a pair of runs down the stretch, but would never come closer than two tallies the rest of the way. Freshman Maureen Wells and Seeger accounted for the final Bona RBI's in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively. Senior Andrea Swanger (3-for-5) led St. Bonaventure with three hits on the day while Bricker (2-for-6), Narde (2-for-5) and Seeger (2-for-5) were the only other Bonnies to put more than one ball into play against Charlotte. The Brown and White return to action on Tuesday, April 8 when the club travels to Ithaca, N.Y. to take on Cornell. Game one of the doubleheader begins at 3:30 p.m. |
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