The Beloit College softball team split a pair of games to open play in the NTC Spring Games in the Orlando area. The Buccaneers dropped the opener to Swarthmore 16-2 in five innings and bounced back to top Carnegie Mellon 6-2 in game two.
The Bucs fell down early against the hot offense from Swarthmore but Beloit bounced back getting the offense going in game two.
Beloit put the pressure on the Carnegie Mellon defense from the onset. Stephannie Lopez and Madi Christine each took one for the team to open the game. Callie Dutton drew a walk in the next at bat to load the bases and Ashley Lambert followed with a single through the left side plating two runs and giving the Bucs an early lead. A wild pitch and Boltik's one-out bunt single loaded the bases once again. Emily Stapay's long fly to right field was deep enough to score Dutton for Beloit's third run of the game.
The defense held strong after allowing a leadoff walk and a one-out single not allowing a runner advance to second to maintain the advantage.
Kat Grzeszkiewicz led off another scoring inning for the Bucs in the top of the second with an infield single and swiped second after an out. Christine tagged a single to center field for the RBI and moved into scoring position with a stolen base. Dutton and Lambert drew back-to-back walks and the Bucs had the bases loaded once again. Maty Nowakowski notched a hard grounder that found its way through the left side and brought in two more to give the Bucs a 6-0 lead after two innings.
Beloit's stingy defense kept Carnegie Mellon off the scoreboard until the bottom of the fifth. A leadoff single followed later by a two-out single down the left field line brought in the first run and the second came around on a single to center field to make it 6-2.
After a single to third base on a screaming liner, the Bucs had to fight through some drama and a long delay before registering the final outs of the game. In the next at bat, the CMU batter grounded to Lopez at second. The runner passed Lopez closely as she attempted to field the ball and after a bobble, the field umpire called dead ball to signal interference and called the runner out. The play was protested and the rule book brought out but no official decision could be made in game so the teams headed back out to the field. Maddy Pfortmiller and the Beloit defense tallied the final two outs to secure the win.
With the protest unresolved, the umpires will convene and discuss the situation. If the protest from CMU is upheld, there is a possibility the Bucs would return to the field with Carnegie Mellon to resume the game at the point the call was made and finish the bottom of the seventh from that point. If the protest is denied and deemed to be the appropriate application of the rule, the game will be official as it stands.
Beloit posted six runs on five hits, off the bats of five different Buccaneers, in the game. Boltik came back from the loss in game one to record the win in game with allowed two runs in five innings in the circle.
The Bucs return to the diamond tomorrow to face Marietta and Haverford at 9:45 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. respectively in Kissimmee, Florida.
