CLERMONT, Fla. \u2013The Bethany College softball team now stands at 6-2 overall after splitting a pair of games Wednesday in Florida, first losing 10-1 to Wesleyan (Conn.) in six innings before bouncing back to hang on for a 7-6 victory over St. Joseph (Conn.) College in the second game.<\/p>\n
Wesleyan was able to take advantage of Bison mistakes in the first game, as sophomore starting pitcher Emily Jump (Milford, Del.\/Polytech) allowed 10 runs, but only five were earned, on eight hits. She also struck out four and walked five in suffering her first loss of the year to fall to 3-1.<\/p>\n
With the bats, senior Andrea Thomas (Toronto, Ohio), sophomore Maria Vallone (Rochester, N.Y.\/Webster Schroeder) and freshman Kristina Massie (Pickerington, Ohio\/Pickerington Central) all collected two hits and senior Cortney Lax (Orrville, Ohio) drove in the team\u2019s only run with an RBI single.<\/p>\n
In game two against St. Joseph, BC jumped out to a comfortable lead and had to withstand a late Blue Jay rally for the 7-6 victory. Bethany went in front in the first inning on an RBI single by Thomas and extended their advantage to 3-0 in the second frame when senior Chelsea Butler (Cortland, Ohio\/Lakeview) smacked a two-run double.<\/p>\n
The Blue Jays pushed their first run across in the third, but it was answered by a pair of Bison tallies in the bottom of the third when Massie belted a two-out, two-run double for a 5-1 Green and White lead. Bethany tacked on two more insurance runs in the fourth, one scoring on a wild pitch and the other coming on a sacrifice fly from Vallone.<\/p>\n
The Bison would need every one of those runs, as St. Joseph came storming back. They posted one on the fifth and four more in the sixth. With the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth inning, a single drove in one run and an error on another single cleared the bases, trimming the BC lead to 7-6.<\/p>\n
But that was as close as the Blue Jays would get. Senior pitcher Cortney Newland (Carmichaels, Pa.) closed out the complete game by retiring St. Joseph in order in the seventh, as she raised her record to 3-0. She allowed six runs, but only two were earned, on seven hits while striking out two and walking a pair.<\/p>\n
Bethany\u2019s offense compiled 12 hits in the contest, spearheaded by Butler, who was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and one run scored, and Thomas, who 3-for-4 with one RBI and one run. Vallone collected two more hits and scored a pair as well, and Lax hit a pair of singles in the win.<\/p>\n
The Bison will complete their schedule down in Florida Thursday with two more games. First is a 9 a.m. match-up with Messiah (Pa.) College, who is ranked eighth in this week\u2019s NFCA Top 25 poll. The final outing will be a 3 p.m. game against Mount Ida (Mass.) College at 3 p.m.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CLERMONT, Fla. \u2013The Bethany College softball team now stands at 6-2 overall after splitting a pair of games Wednesday in Florida, first losing 10-1 to Wesleyan (Conn.) in six innings before bouncing back to hang on for a 7-6 victory over St. Joseph (Conn.) College in the second game. Wesleyan was able to take advantage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[69,71,73,72,70,76,75,74],"class_list":["post-3281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","tag-bethany-college","tag-bethany-softball","tag-clermont-softball","tag-florida","tag-softball","tag-softball-game","tag-st-joseph-college","tag-wesleyan"],"yoast_head":"\n