GREENVILLE, Pa. – By sweeping a road twinbill at Thiel Thursday by scores of 8-2 and 5-4, the Bethany College softball team moved within a game of first place Thomas More and maintained their chances to earn the #1 seed in next weekend’s PAC Tournament.
The Bison (27-11, 9-3) opened the scoring in the first game with two runs in the second inning on consecutive RBI singles by freshman DH Liz Kletzli (Carnegie, Pa./Chartiers Valley) and freshman pitcher Emily Jump (Milford, Del./Polytech). The pitchers took control of the contest for the next few innings, as the score remained at 2-0 until the sixth inning.
In that frame, BC doubled their lead to 4-0. An error, single and walk loaded the bases with two outs and Kletzli delivered a two-run double. Thiel (16-16, 6-6) answered with a pair of runs off Jump in the sixth, but Bethany put the win away with four runs in the seventh. Senior SS Ashley Marinacci (Bellaire, Ohio/Bellaire St. John’s) hit a two-run single, which was followed by Thomas’ two-run double to give the Bison the final 8-2 margin.
The double from Thomas capped her big first game, as she went 3-for-4 with the two RBIs, while Kletzli collected two hits and three RBIs. Jump picked up the win in the circle with her 11th complete game of the season, as she gave up two runs on nine hits and struck out two.
In game two, Bethany would have to come from behind to secure the sweep. In the third inning, freshman CF Alison Powell (Nashport, Ohio/Tri-Valley) smacked a one-out triple and scored on a single by senior catcher Bridgette Fauth (Pittsburgh, Pa./Carrick). The Tomcats struck back with two runs in the fourth and pushed their lead to 3-1 with another score in the fifth inning.
The Bison moved back in front in the fifth inning with four runs. Freshman RF Maria Vallone (Rochester, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) knocked in one with a single and Marinacci followed with a two-run single to put BC back in top. The final run of the inning scored on Thomas’ RBI ground out.
The sweep did not come easily for the Bison, as they had to fight off two Tomcat rallies. Thiel scored one run in the sixth to make it a 5-4 score and had a runner on third before a fly out ended the inning. In the seventh, a leadoff double put the tying run on for the Tomcats and a ground out back to the pitcher moved that runner to third. The next batter hit a grounder to junior 2B Chelsea Butler (Cortland, Ohio/Lakeview), who threw home to cut down the lead runner and maintain the Bethany lead. Bethany wasn’t out of the woods yet, as Jump, who entered in relief in the fifth, ended the game by snaring a line drive for the final out.
Jump threw the final 2 1/3 innings to earn the win, which raised her record to 18-8 and gave head coach Jan Forsty her 598th career victory. The Bison totaled 11 hits in the game, with more than half coming from the top two spots in the order. Butler was 3-for-3 with a run scored and Fauth finished 3-for-4 with one RBI and one run.
Bethany will close out the regular season Saturday when they host Washington & Jefferson at 1 p.m. If BC sweeps the Presidents and Westminster (23-13, 9-3) wins at least one when hosting Thomas More (18-16, 10-2) Saturday, then the Bison would host the PAC Tournament. If Thomas More wins both at Westminster, they would be the top seed for the conference playoffs.
Discussion about this post