BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - The Bloomsburg softball team battled with No. 15 East Stroudsburg Wednesday afternoon, splitting the midweek doubleheader at Jan M. Hutchinson Field.
The Huskies powered themselves to a six-inning, 10-2 victory in game one. Eight of Bloomsburg's nine batters notched a hit in the contest while
Callie Sowers (Irwin, Pa/Hempfield Area) and
Sage Weidlich (Pittston, Pa./Pittston) reached career milestones.
With 11 strikeouts in game one, Sowers became the fifth pitcher in team history to eclipse 600 strikeouts, now sitting with 605 in her career. The Irwin, Pa. native also became the 13 player in Huskies history to reach 50 career wins on the mound. With a three-hit performance in game one, Weidlich reached 100 hits in her 88th career game as a members of the Huskies.
The initial offense faded as the ranked Warriors squad responded with a 6-1 win in game two.
The Huskies now sit at 21-14 on the season, with a 10-8 mark in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) action. East Stroudsburg holds a 32-8 overall record and is 14-4 in conference play.
Game One:
The game was scoreless through the opening two innings of the contest before Bloomsburg broke out with a four-run third inning.
With the bases loaded and nobody out, the Huskies forced a pitching change from the visiting Warriors.
Taylor Kranzley (Northampton, Pa./Northampton) drove in the afternoon's first run with a sacrifice fly. After
Sarah Yamrick (Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot) loaded the bases for the second time, a pair of hard-hit balls from
Mia Nemeth (Drums, Pa/Marian Catholic) and
Alex Iseminger (Everett, Pa./Everett Area) put the Huskies up 4-0.
East Stroudsburg scored the next two runs to make it a 4-2 game, with Sowers escaping a bases-loaded jam of her own in the top of the fourth. After allowing one run to score with nobody out and runners on the corners, the junior right-hander struck out her next opponent. With two outs, the Warriors drew a walk to load the bases. Facing the nine-hole hitter, Sowers got the batter chasing on strike three.
In the bottom of the fifth, freshman
Josie Straigis (Greensburg, Pa./Greater Latrobe) launched her team-leading fifth home run and 27th RBI of the season to extend the advantage to 7-2.
Bloomsburg ended things in the bottom of the sixth with another three runs to secure the run-rule decision. After the first out of the inning, the Huskies recorded three consecutive hits, with Kranzley and Yamrick each recording RBI doubles to extend the advantage to seven. With two outs,
Alex Iseminger (Everett, Pa./Everett Area) snuck a single through the left side of the infield to wrap up game one.
Game Two:
The Warriors responded to the earlier defeat by scoring the first run of game two. After a one-out double, a hard-hit fly ball to the left-field fence was deep enough to allow the runner to tag from second and score.
The game would hold steady for the next few innings before East Stroudsburg rattled off the largest single inning of the afternoon. The first run of the inning was driven in off of a fielder's choice after a swift slide at the plate kept the inning alive for the Warriors. The visitors rallied from there with two outs, scoring four runs off three hits to extend the edge to 6-0.
The Huskies' lone run of the second contest came after
Emmie Rowe (Hetlerville, Pa./Central Columbia) delivered a pinch-hit double to left field to set up a RBI single from
Gianna Gombeda (Hazleton, Pa./Hazleton) to chip away at the deficit. A critical point of the inning was an 18-pitch battle between
Bella Culp (Harrisburg, Pa/Central Dauphin) and East Stroudsburg starting pitcher Sarah Davenport that fell in favor of the visitors.
The pitching on both sides would hold firm through the final two innings of the contest as the final score would hold at 6-1.
On the Horizon:
The Huskies hit the road for a pair of road doubleheaders in PSAC play. Bloomsburg begins the weekend at Shippensburg on Friday, April 12, with the first pitch scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
