Bears Trip Up Garnet
COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. -- The first-place Ursinus Bears maintained a clear advantage over the rest of the Centennial Conference by sweeping both games of a doubleheader from visiting Swarthmore Sunday afternoon. Ursinus (24-6 overall, 11-1 CC) won the first game 4-1 and then held of a Garnet comeback to claim game two 4-3.
Swarthmore (18-10 overall, 8-4 CC) sits in second place in the CC standings, one game ahead of Gettysburg, Dickinson and McDaniel. Four teams make the Centennial playoffs and the Garnet have four more chances to secure a second straight berth with doubleheaders against Haverford (Tuesday, 4:00 p.m.) and McDaniel (Saturday, 1:00 p.m.). Swarthmore has their work cut out for them—both the Fords and the Green Terror made the CC playoffs in 2006.
The Bears handed the ball to two-time Centennial Pitcher of the Year Mallory Greene (13-1) for game one, and the senior right-hander spread out seven Garnet hits over seven innings while striking out three.
Ursinus used two hits and a Swarthmore error, to take a 2-0 lead after one inning and then added a run in both the fourth and fifth inning to go ahead 4-0. Swarthmore got on the board in the top of the sixth when freshman Kathryn Riley singled and junior Katherine Gold tripled her home.
Sophomore Alexandra Zelaski (5-4) took the loss for Swarthmore, allowing nine hits and two earned runs in 6.0 innings. Gold led the Garnet offense by going 2-for-3 with a run drive in
The second game featured a pitching match-up of two rising stars in the Centennial Conference: Riley and Bears' freshman Lauren Davis. Swarthmore got to Davis first, plating a run in the first inning as senior Ashley Brandt singled, stole second base and scored on sophomore Christine Sendelsky's one-out base hit.
Ursinus got to Riley in the bottom of the first, scoring three runs in the second inning highlighted by catcher Kaitlyn Sutherland's three-run homer.
The Bears added an unearned run in the third after a pair of Garnet errors.
Garnet senior Kelly Siano started a seventh-inning rally for the visitors with a single to left. Catcher Michele Perch got hit by a pitch and after two outs, sophomore Lauren Walker drove both women home with a base hit. Brandt walked to put the tying run in scoring position, but Davis beared down and struck out Riley to end the game.
Riley (9-1) allowed only four hits and struck out four batters while suffering her first collegiate loss. Davis improved to 8-4, limiting Swarthmore to four hits while striking out 10 batters in seven innings.
Swarthmore hosts nemesis Haverford this Tuesday, April 22 in a 4:00 p.m. doubleheader and then concludes the Centennial regular season slate against McDaniel on Saturday.