LATROBE – Junior Andrea Thomas (Toronto, Ohio) belted a grand slam to help the Bethany College softball team post a 9-1 victory in five innings over Saint Vincent in the second game of their doubleheader after the Bearcats squeezed out a 6-5 triumph in the opener in eight innings on a walk-off home run.
The Bison (12-8) fell behind 1-0 in the second game when Saint Vincent (9-11) scored an unearned run in the top of the third. In the last of the third, BC answered back with a pair of unearned runs, as Thomas reached on an error with two outs, which was followed by a walk to senior catcher Bridgette Fauth (Pittsburgh, Pa.). Senior SS Ashley Marinacci (Bellaire, Ohio/Bellaire St. John’s) cracked a two-run double that put Bethany in front 2-1.
Saint Vincent miscues keyed a five-run outburst by the Bison in the fourth. Freshman catcher Liz Kletzli (Carnegie, Pa./Chartiers Valley) struck out to start the inning but reached on a wild pitch. Two errors allowed the first run to score and two walks loaded the bases for Thomas. She gave the Green and White a 7-1 cushion by blasting a grand slam, her first homer of the season.
Bethany clinched the win with a pair of tallies in the fifth to invoke the mercy rule. Junior 2B Lindsay Olson (Rices Landing, Pa./Jefferson-Morgan) and freshman RF Maria Vallone (Rochester, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) stroked RBI singles in the inning to give BC the 9-1 win. Freshman pitcher Emily Jump (Milford, Del./Polytech) earned the win by throwing all five innings and allowing the one unearned run on four hits with two strikeouts to raise her record to 8-6.
In the opening game, the Bison lost an early lead, then battled back to force extra innings before a Bearcat long ball ended the game in the eighth. The Bison scored twice in the first frame, one coming on an SVC error and another on senior 1B Stephanie Shafer’s (Lancaster, Ohio) RBI single. The Bearcats struck back for one tally in the second and pushed four more across in the third to seize a 5-2 advantage.
Bethany came all the way back to tie the game in the sixth with a string of doubles. After sophomore CF Brittani Seeman (Rumson, N.J./Rumson Fair Haven) doubled to put runners on second and third with two outs, Vallone ripped a two-bagger to score one. That was followed by a two-run double from Thomas that evened the count at 5-5.
The Bearcats had the best chance to score before extra innings, but left the bases loaded in the sixth. Once in the eighth inning, the Bison were retired in order in the top of the frame. In the bottom, the first batter popped up, but the next batter, 2B Samantha Bly, homered off Jump, who threw the final 2 2/3 innings in relief, to end the contest.
Kletzli was the only BC player with two hits, while Thomas had two RBIs at the plate.
Bethany will be back on the diamond Sunday afternoon with a doubleheader at Capital set to begin at 2:30.
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