LEESBURG, Fla. (March 5) – The Saint Vincent College softball team moved back to the .500 mark after taking both games of a split doubleheader on its penultimate day at The Spring Games.
 
In the opener, the Bearcats (3-3) bounced back from an early two-run deficit to pull away from Regis College (0-5), 10-3, before the second game of the day saw the Bearcats hold the lead for all seven frames in a 5-3 victory over Rivier (3-1).
 
Game One – Saint Vincent 10, Regis 3
Three Bearcats recorded multi-hit games, while three others turned in solid pitching performances, as Saint Vincent scored 10 runs over the final four innings to cruise to the 10-3 win.
 
Haley Bicko led the Bearcats' 10-hit effort, going 3-4 with two triples and two runs scored, while Alyssa Henderson doubled twice, scored twice, and drove in two runs, and Shayna Perigo went 2-3 with two RBIs and a walk.
 
Shelby Dobrzynski earned her first career win in the circle, working the middle three innings and allowing just one run on two hits. Meghan Braun started, allowing two runs (one earned) with two strikeouts in two innings, before Kiley Meek threw struck out two batters and allowed zero runs over the final two frames.
 
Regis scored an unearned run in the first inning before using two singles and a walk to take a 2-0 lead in the second, before the Bearcat bats woke up in a big way in the third. Lily Rush reached on a wild pitch strikeout to open things, before Olivia Persin's fly ball to the warning track in left field was dropped, putting runners at second and third. Jessica LaPorte then blasted a ball to the fence in left-center to plate Persin and Rush and tie the game at 2-2. One pitch later, Henderson doubled to the right field corner to plate LaPorte with the go-ahead run, before Perigo's line drive single to center scored Henderson and made it 4-2.
 
Saint Vincent added a single tally in the top of the fourth when Bicko, who led off the frame with a triple to the gap in right-center, scored on an RBI groundout by April Earnest to up the lead to 5-2.
 
Regis got one run back in the bottom of the fifth, but SVC then put the game away for good in the visiting half of the sixth, sending nine batters to the plate to score four more runs and open the margin to 9-3. Bicko smacked her second three-bagger of the game in the inning, while Henderson belted another RBI double and Perigo an RBI single.
 
SVC closed out the scoring in the seventh on a two-out RBI single to right field by Olivia Goodwin to account for the final score of 10-3.  
 
Game Two: Saint Vincent 5, Rivier 3
In their second game of the day, the Bearcats took a 1-0 lead just three pitches into the bottom of the first, as Persin led off with a single to left, before scoring on Bicko's third triple of the afternoon, this one to straightaway center.
 
After breezing through the first two innings, Saint Vincent starter A.J. Arnal ran into trouble in the third, issuing a walk and back-to-back singles to load the bases with no outs. The rookie would then bear down, recording the first out on a pop-up, before the second batter was retired on a running catch by Earnest in left. The next batter hit a sharp comebacker that deflected off of Arnal right to the shortstop Persin, who made the throw to retire the side, stranding the bases loaded and keeping the Raiders off the scoreboard.
 
In the bottom of the third, the Raiders recorded two quick groundouts, but LaPorte smacked a double to the right field corner, and promptly scored on another RBI single from Henderson to push the lead to 2-0. Perigo followed with a single to left, before Yoder came through with a two-bagger of her own to score both Henderson and Perigo and make the lead 4-0.
 
The Bearcats scored their fifth and final run in the bottom of the fourth. Kendall McConnell and Persin drew back-to-back walks, before a Bicko single loaded the bases. McConnell then dashed home on a wild pitch to extend the lead to five runs.
 
The Raiders scored single runs in each of the final three innings, before Bicko came on to close the door in relief in the seventh, recording three strikeouts to earn the save and preserve the win.
 
Like Dobryznski in the opener, Arnal earned her first career victory in the nightcap, as she worked 6.0 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with three strikeouts.
 
Offensively, eight different Bearcats reached base safely while seven recorded at least one hit. Bicko again led the charge, going 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Persin, LaPorte, Henderson, Perigo, Yoder, and Nicolette Kloes each found the hit column once. LaPorte reached base safely three teams, adding a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
 
Saint Vincent will now conclude its Florida spring break journey with two more games on Wednesday, March 6, facing New England College at 4 p.m., and Wheaton College at 6:15 p.m., at the Diamondplex in Winter Haven. The games were originally scheduled for 12:15 p.m. and 2:45 p.m., but were pushed back due to anticipated poor weather in the central Florida region.