The Beloit College softball team split a pair of games in their second day of competition in The Spring Games in the Clermont, Florida area Monday afternoon. The Buccaneers dropped the day's opener 5-3 to Heidelberg before coming back to defeat Bethany College (W.V.) 4-3.
The Bucs scored first against Heidelberg capitalizing on a defensive miscue to take an early 1-0 lead. The Student Princes had a quick response plating a pair of runs on three hits in the bottom of the frame to claim the advantage 2-1 after one complete.
The Berg added single runs in the third, fifth and sixth to take a 5-2 advantage into the final frame. Beloit pushed across a run in the top of the seventh but Heidelberg held on for the win.
The Bucs registered five hits, all from different Bucs in the opener with
Makayla Zundel leading the way with a hit, a walk and two runs scored.
Cora Aubert suffered the loss in the circle for the Bucs fanning five in six innings of work.
The Bucs bounced back with another late inning comeback to post their second win of the trip against Bethany.
The Bison scored three in the top of the second but the Buc defense blanked Bethany the rest of the way giving the offense an opportunity to complete the comeback, which is exactly what transpired.
A single run in the bottom of the fifth sparked the comeback as
Stephannie Lopez tagged a single to right center bringing
Zoe Landolt in to score from second. Following a three-up, three-down defensive frame, the Bucs pulled to within one in the bottom of the sixth.
Emily Stapay drew a walk. Two outs later,
Riley Conn kept the inning alive with a single to right center that put runners on the corners.
Maddie Moser made solid contact sending the ball into right field for the RBI single to make it 3-2 after six.
The Bucs got out of a bit of a jam in the top of the seventh as the Bison were able to get two runners on but
Maddy Pfortmiller caught a Bethany batter looking for the final out of the inning.
Zundel headed to the batter's box to open the seventh drawing a pinch hit walk in a battle of an at bat. She was replaced on the basepaths by Landolt who swiped second to put the tying run in scoring position. Following the first out of the frame, Lopez took an outside pitch to the right side to put Bucs on the corners.
Bre Noack laid down a fantastic bunt that the defense opted to see if it would roll foul but the spinner caught the chalk and stayed in play for a single to load the bases. Stapay put the ball in play in the pressure situation and a throwing error by a Bison infielder allowed the tying run to score and kept the bases loaded.
Dani Strejc stepped in the box and roped a ball into left center to bring in Lopez for the walkoff single.
Lopez led the Bucs at the plate going 3-4 with a run scored and a RBI. Pfortmiller picked up her second win of the trip with a complete game in the circle. In seven innings of work, she allowed three earned runs and struck out five while walking just one.
The Bucs return to action Wednesday with an 11:30 (ET) matchup with Lesley University followed by a 4 p.m. (ET) meeting with Juniata.
