The Beloit College softball team's offense broke out Wednesday as the Buccaneers came back to defeat Lesley on a walkoff in the bottom of the seventh before exploding for a 12-3 win over Juniata in the nightcap at the Legends Way Ballfields in Clermont, Florida.
It took a bit for the Buc bats to get going but once they did the flood gates opened. Beloit had been racking up the hits but couldn't push runners across falling into a 5-0 deficit after 4.5 innings against Lesley.
Cora Aubert sparked the offense in the bottom of the fifth tagging a ball to the fence in centerfield for a RBI double that scored
Madi Christine to put the Bucs on the board.
The defense fed off the momentum shift from the offensive frame sitting the Bobcats down in order in the sixth.
Dani Strejc opened the bottom of the sixth with a single to center.
Stephannie Lopez and
Maty Nowakowski followed suit with two more base knocks to load the bases. Lesley opted to go for the lead out at home and were successful to register the second out of the inning but the Bucs were hungry for more. Moser went with an outside pitch sending it into right field to bring in two more and pull Beloit to within two, 5-3 with one inning of regulation left.
The Bobcats had two batters reach via base on balls and advance via the steal to sandwich a pop out. A groundball to the pitcher on the next play had Aubert slinging the ball to
Emily Stapay at first for the second out who quickly threw home as the runner took off on the initial throw to set up Nowakowski for the swipe tag at the plate and a double play.
Aubert opened the bottom of the seventh with a single to right field. Following a fly out, Strejc came up with a huge rip to left field for a double to put Aubert on third and Strejc, the tying run on second. Lopez brought the Bucs one step closer with a single to center and moved into scoring position on heads up baserunning, advancing on the throw home from the outfield.
Riley Conn stepped up to the plate and connected for a single to the right side to tie the game 5-5 with Lopez advancing to third. Nowakowski punched an outside pitch to right field to score Lopez from third for the 6-5 victory in walkoff fashion.
The Bucs blasted 14 hits in the contest while Beloit's defense held the Bobcats to just four hits in the game. Nowakowski led the Bucs offensively going 3-4 at the plate with the walkoff base hit. Aubert, Strejc, Lopez and Conn each registered a pair of hits in the game.
Aubert no-hit the Bobcats in four innings of relief work to pick up the win in the circle.
Despite having a game break, the Bucs brought all of the momentum from the thrilling game one victory into the nightcap. Beloit plated one run in the first, which Juniata countered in their half of the frame before unloading with eight runs in the second. In that inning, Beloit scored the eight runs courtesy of three hits, five walks, two Eagle miscues and a bases loaded three-bagger off the bat of Lopez that scored three.
Juniata narrowed the gap by one in the bottom of the fourth before Beloit capitalized on a couple errors to push the advantage back to eight, 10-2.
The Eagles opened the bottom of the fifth with a double that eventually led to a run to keep the game alive. An eight-run lead after five complete would have ended the game early due to the run-rule.
Beloit extended the lead by two runs in the top of the seventh to make it 12-3.
In the final frame of the contest, the Bucs registered the first out on a fly out but the Eagles had life with a single to left center followed by a stolen base. The next batter tagged a ball to left field that Zoe Ladolt robbed with a fantastic over-the-shoulder catch at full speed. Beloit capped the game on a foul out to third.
Christine led Beloit at the plate in game two going 3-4 with three runs scored and an RBI.
Maddy Pfortmiller pitched an absolute gem scattering eights and allowing just two earned runs while striking out seven without issuing a walk to pick up the complete game win. Pfortmiller is now 4-1 on the season.
The Bucs have two more games Thursday opening the day against St. Mary's College at 4 followed by a meeting with Belhaven University. Beloit will wrap up their spring trip in the Clermont area Friday against Pitt-Greensburg and Penn State-New Kensington.
