COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Softball team suffered a pair of losses against Swarthmore in a Centennial Conference doubleheader on Thursday afternoon at the Snell Softball Field. The Bears dropped game one 8-3 before being shut out 8-0 in five innings during game two.
With the losses, the Bears fell to 14-15 overall and 2-8 in Centennial Conference action. Meanwhile, the Garnet improved to 20-4 overall and 9-1 in conference play as they maintained their hold on first place.
GAME ONE
The Garnet took advantage of three errors from the Bears in the top of the first and went up 4-0. Three of the Swarthmore came with two outs in the inning after the first came on a one-out double. Senior Mackenzie Brennan looked to get a rally going for Ursinus as she led off the bottom of the first with triple to left field. After a walk and hit by pitch loaded the bases, senior catcher Ally St. Jean poked a single up the middle that scored two runs to make it 4-2. The Garnet avoided further damage by stranding a pair of Bears in scoring position by recording the next two outs. Swarthmore then got one of the runs back on a solo home run to left field in the top of the second inning. Ursinus cut the deficit down to 5-3 in the bottom of the second when junior Amanda Panati singled to score Brennan, who kept the inning alive with a two-out double. The Garnet responded yet again in the top of the third to go up 6-3 on a sacrifice fly after loading the bases with out. Swarthmore added two more runs in the top of the fifth and took an 8-3 lead off a two-out two-run home run. The Bears had just one base runner in the final four innings of the game after scoring their final run in the third inning.
GAME TWO
Junior pitcher Alexis Miller worked out of trouble in the first inning by stranding a runner on third after a leadoff single started the inning. The Bears put runners on first and second in the bottom of the second inning before a strike out and pop up ended the frame. Swarthmore got on the board in the top of the third inning with five runs on three hits and one error, three of which came off a bases-clearing double with two outs. Ursinus looked poise to respond in the bottom of the third inning as they loaded the bases with one out. Unfortunately for the Bears, two fly outs got the Garnet out of the jam without any runs allowed. Swarthmore put themselves in position to end the game in five innings during the top of the fourth with a two-out three-run home run to go up 8-0. The Garnet ended the game by retiring the next six Bears in order.
Brennan went 2-for-4 in game one with two runs scored while St. Jean tallied two hits between the two games and recorded two RBI's in game one. Gwen Glatz earned the win in game one for the Garnet after allowing three earned runs on four hits with four strikeouts and one walk in the full seven innings. Meg Ozawa earned the win in game two after allowing no runs on three hits while striking out four and walking two in five innings. Alex Simon went a combined 5-of-7 from the plate with four runs scored and six RBI's between the two games with a pair of home runs as well.
The Bears return to action on Saturday, April 23rd as they will host Dickinson for a Senior Day doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.