BETHANY, W.Va. (March 27) – The Saint Vincent College softball team split a road doubleheader at Presidents' Athletic Conference foe Bethany College, prevailing in a 1-0 pitcher's duel in the opener, before falling 5-1 in the nightcap.
With the split, Saint Vincent's record move to 11-7 overall and 3-1 in the PAC, while the Bison are now 13-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
GAME ONE: Saint Vincent 1, Bethany 0
The Bearcats rode a stellar performance from senior
Haley Bicko to come out on the right side of a 1-0 pitcher's duel in game one.
Bicko was masterful, needing just 90 pitches to author the complete game shutout. She scattered five hits and struck out five batters to improve to 4-1 on the season.
Bethany hurler Josie Wise was just as effective, allowing just four base runners and two hits – singles by Bicko and
Olivia Persin.
The teams traded zeroes through the first five innings before the Bearcats scratched across their lone run in the top of the sixth. With two outs, Persin singled and stole second.
Jessica LaPorte then struck out, but the third strike was dropped, and the subsequent throw sailed into right field to allow Persin to score from second and give SVC the lead.
Bicko ran into her first trouble in the bottom of the sixth, surrendering a leadoff single and then a basehit bunt to put runners at first and third. The Bisons' Brooke Markland then sent a drive to the fence in left center, and Bearcat centerfielder
Leah Yoder made a sensational diving catch. The runner at third appeared to score on the sacrifice fly, but was called out on appeal for leaving early for the unconventional double play. Bicko would then induce an inning-enning popup to the right to keep the Bison off the board.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Bison managed a two-out single, but Bicko retired the game's final batter on a popup to second base to end the game, which spanned just 72 minutes.
GAME TWO: Bethany 5, SVC 1
In the nightcap, SVC received another strong start in the circle, this time from
Olivia Bushore, but the Bearcat defense struggled, committing three errors that led to four unearned runs.
The Bison opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, scoring an unearned run on a two-out error to make it 1-0.
In the top of the fourth, SVC was unable to take advantage of a pair of Bison errors, stranding a pair of runners, before the Bison added two unearned tallies on two SVC errors in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-0.
Bushore kept the deficit at three runs after stranding a pair of batters in the bottom of the fifth, before the Bearcats finally cracked the scoreboard in the top of the sixth.
Mackenzie Favero and Persin singled to open the inning, before
Alyssa Henderson followed suit, shooting a liner to left to plate Favero and make it 3-1.
The Bison added on in the bottom of the sixth, using a single, error and double to plate a pair of runs and increase the lead to 5-1.
In the top of the seventh, SVC managed a pair of baserunners, as Bicko pinch hit and reached on an error before a two-out walk to Favero, but both runners remained stranded to end the game.
Bushore went all six innings in the circle and took the hard-luck loss, allowing just two earned runs on six hits with seven strikeouts.
Offensively, Persin went 2-for-4, while Favero, Henderson, and
Shayna Perigo all added singles.
Katelyn Ziems earned the complete game win for Bethany, allowing one run on five hits.
The Bearcats will now have a six-day layoff, before returning to action on Wednesday, April 3, with a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader at Franciscan University.
