Box Score Game 1
Box Score Game 2
PIKE CREEK, Del. – The Goldey-Beacom College softball team won both ends of its doubleheader against Bloomfield College (4-3, 6-0) in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference play on a breezy Sat. afternoon at Nancy Churchman-Sawin Field.
The Lightning, who had not taken a game from the Deacons since a split in 2006, improved to 12-8 overall and 6-5 in CACC play. BC fell to 6-6 overall and 2-3 in league play.
Game 1: GBC 4, BC 3
Freshman pitcher Leanne Miller (4-1) earned the win in the first game, tossing five innings and giving up just three earned runs on six hits and two walks while striking out three. She was relieved by junior Heather Draper in the sixth inning, and Draper had little trouble closing out the Lightning win for her second save of the season.
GBC did all of its damage in the bottom of the second inning as they tagged Bloomfield's starting pitcher Brianne Moore (5-2) for four runs on two hits, one walk and a hit-by-pitch. Two of those runs came on a two-out base-hit by senior catcher and lead-off batter, Lauren Witzke.
Witzke's two-RBI single would prove pivotal as Bloomfield earned back three of those runs in the fifth and sixth frames. The Deacons used a two-out rally in the top of the fifth to plate one run. Daliana Perez started things off with a walk and then stole second base. Then Brittany DeVries drove her in with an RBI double.
In the sixth inning, Moore tried to help her cause with a leadoff double. Amanda Bartels followed with a base-hit, and then Lightning head coach Jerry Grasso decided to send in Draper. The first batter Draper faced, Ashleigh Williams, hit an RBI single. Then, after Krystina Poloni flied out to left field for the first out of the inning, Nicole Cagnino hit an RBI single and she and the base-runner ahead of her advanced one base on the throw to the plate.
With runners already on second and third base, Perez reached on an error to load the bases for the Deacons with just one out. Draper got out of the jam though as she was able to get DeVries to hit a grounder to sophomore shortstop Ashley Paige, who got the lead runner out at the plate for the crucial second out. Finally, BC leadoff batter popped up to Shannon O'Hara at first base to end the inning, stranding three Deacon base-runners.
The top of the seventh inning saw Bianka Cosme try to stretch a leadoff single into a double when Lightning centerfielder Cailin Cavanaugh bobbled the ball, but Cavanaugh was up to the task and promptly fired into second for the first out of the inning. Draper then retired the next two batters to give the Lightning the narrow victory.
Bloomfield, who stranded seven runners on the day, might have had its game-tying fourth run if not for an appeal made by Miller to sophomore third baseman Jordan Waterloo that resulted in a Deacon base-runner being called out for leaving early on a sacrifice fly.
Game 2: GBC 6, BC 0
After coming on to close in the first game, Draper got the start in the second game and pitched six scoreless innings to improve to 4-2 on the season. She gave up just six hits and two walks while striking out five before sophomore lefthander Sadie Jones came on to retire the side in the seventh inning for the save.
GBC opened the scoring with a two-out rally in the bottom of the second inning. After the first two batters were retired, the Lightning came up with four straight base-hits by O'Hara, junior second baseman Jackie Waddle, Witzke and sophomore designated player Shannon Graves, who scorched a line-drive into center field to score O'Hara from third. Paige would drive in an RBI on the next at-bat as she reached on an error before the inning ended on an unassisted putout at third base for the third out.
The Lightning added two more runs in the third with the help of a leadoff triple by Waterloo and RBI singles by freshman Angelina Myers and Waddle. They would add two more in the bottom of the fifth on a two-RBI triple by Witzke that scored O'Hara and Cavanaugh.
GBC is back in action on Wed. afternoon, Apr. 7 as they visit CACC foe Georgian Court University in Lakewood, N.J. at 3 p.m.
