CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Bethany College softball team continued its recent offensive surge by blasting seven home runs and scoring 31 runs to sweep a doubleheader at Case Western Reserve Sunday by scores of 15-4 in six innings and 16-14.
The victories raised the Bison’s record to 20-10 and improved their winning streak to six games. During this stretch, BC has scored 68 runs, an average of better than 11 runs per game.
The opening game was tight until Bethany erupted late to pick up the win. Senior catcher Bridgette Fauth’s (Pittsburgh, Pa./Carrick) huge first game began with a two-run homer in the first and she added an RBI single in the second to give the Green and White a 3-1 lead they held until the fourth. That’s when they added four more to their margin, as RBI doubles from senior SS Ashley Marinacci (Bellaire, Ohio/Bellaire St. John’s) and freshman catcher Liz Kletzli (Carnegie, Pa./Chartiers Valley) bookended a two-run single by senior 1B Stephanie Shafer (Lancaster, Ohio).
The Bison’s lead grew to 8-1 in the fifth on a leadoff solo home run by freshman LF Angie Varhula (West Mifflin, Pa.), but the Spartans (8-30) cut into the margin with three tallies in the bottom of the fifth. BC used the long ball to seal the win in the sixth. Shafer hit an RBI single to begin the seven-run outburst. Kletzli followed with a three-run homer. After consecutive doubles were followed by two ground outs, Fauth bashed a three-run blast to right-center to give BC the 15-4 triumph.
Fauth’s final line for the first game showed her at 4-for-4 with her third and fourth home runs of the year, six RBIs and three runs scored. Kletzli had two hits and four RBIs and Shafer posted two hits and three RBIs, as seven Bison finished with two or more hits. All the offense came in support of junior starter Cortney Newland (Carmichaels, Pa.), who improved to 7-3 by throwing all six innings and allowing four runs on seven hits.
The nightcap saw Case take a huge lead, but BC climbed back into the contest and used a big inning late to come away with the win. Bethany took a 2-0 lead in the first in an RBI single from junior 3B Andrea Thomas (Toronto, Ohio) and RBI double by Shafer, but the Spartans put nine runs on the board in the last of the first to take a commanding 9-2 lead.
The Bison clipped three runs off the deficit in the second, as two scored on separate wild pitches and another came home on an error. In the third inning, BC struck for three runs off long balls. Kletzli hit a leadoff single and junior CF Cortney Lax (Orrville, Ohio) followed by clubbing a two-run homer and Varhula made it back-to-back blasts by cranking a solo shot to center.
After the Spartans scored one in the third, Bethany got it back on a Shafer sacrifice fly in the fourth. The offensive fireworks continued when Case recorded four runs in the fourth to extend their advantage to 14-9, but a Marinacci RBI single in the fifth trimmed the deficit to four runs.
All of the Bison damage from their final rally came with two outs in the sixth. Fauth struck again with an RBI single and after a two-run double by Marinacci and run-producing single from Thomas, Bethany had come all the way back to tie the game. The tie was short-lived, as Shafer drove a two-run homer to right to give the Bison the lead.
After the teams combined for 30 runs on 32 hits through the first five and a half innings, the final inning and a half went quietly. Case managed one hit in the sixth and Bethany stranded two in the top of the seventh. Freshman pitcher Emily Jump (Milford, Del./Polytech) concluded her four-inning stint in relief by retiring the Spartans in order to pick up the win and take her record to 13-7.
Once again, Bethany’s line-up from top to bottom contributed, as all nine batters had at least one hit. Leading the way was Shafer, whose game-winning homer gave her four RBIs, while Marinacci (three RBIs), Thomas (two RBIs), Varhula and sophomore CF Brittani Seeman (Rumson, N.J./Rumson Fair Haven) all registered three hits.
The Bison will hope to carry over their offensive success when they travel to Chatham for a PAC twinbill Tuesday.
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