The Quinnipiac softball team endured an awkward weekend split. First it was swept Saturday in a doubleheader against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, 5-4 and 3-2. Then the Braves bounced back with two solid performances to sweep a doubleheader against Mt. St. Mary’s. The four game weekend now has the Braves at 6-8 overall, and 3-3 in the Northeast Conference.
The Braves matched UMBC run for run throughout game one, until Bonnie Nevin’s game winning RBI single in the seventh inning. Although UMBC scored first on an error by the Braves’ Liz Moriarty, Quinnipiac came back in the second when Moriarty redeemed herself with a single, bringing in Jill Ciminello. A two-run homerun in the third gave the Retrievers’ (8-8 overall) a 3-1 lead.
In the fourth, Quinnipiac showed its resiliancy when Jessica Petri hit a homerun and was followed another RBI hit to tie the game 3-3.
A wild pitch allowed the Braves to take the lead in the 5th, but UMBC answered back with another run. The Retrievers went on to win with the RBI by Nevin.
In game two, Callie Bundy and Jennifer Murphy each batted in a run as Quinnipiac took a 2-0 advantage in the second inning. But UMBC scored three unanswered runs in the next three innings and then held on to sweep the doubleheader.
Fortunately for the Braves, games three and four of the weekend stint would bring better luck. Quinnipiac outscored the Mountaineers 3-0 in the first game, and 4-1 in the second, en route to the two conference wins.
In the first game, Ashlee Morgan led the Braves with two hits, but it was the three hit, six strikeout pitching performance by Melissa Reynolds that gave Quinnipiac its 5th win of the year and evened Reynolds’s record to 2-2. The insurance runs came from Nicole Chaputs two- run triple in the 5th inning.
Morgan added another hit and a run scored in game two, but Chaput and the pitching stole the show again. Chaput once again chose the 5th inning to make her mark as she hit a two-run homer en route to going 2-4 with two RBI and a run scored for the game. This time it was sophomore Alisha Zabel with the stellar performance on the mound, going the entire seven innings, allowing only three hits on the way to her first win of the year. Quinnipiac hopes to use this momentum to fuel its second half push in the NEC.