KUTZTOWN, Pa. - The Bloomsburg softball team dropped a pair of closely-contested contests on the road against No. 16 Kutztown Friday afternoon.

The Huskies (14-8, 4-4 PSAC East) held the lead in both games going into the latter innings. The home Golden Bears (21-6, 5-3 PSAC East) rallied when needed, winning in the bottom of the eighth in game one, 2-1, and swinging the momentum in game two with a three-run bottom of the sixth for a 3-2 result. 

Sarah Yamrick (Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot) produced from the No. 2 spot in the lineup on Friday, finishing the two games 5-for-6 (.833) with two doubles and a run scored. Allie Wenrich (Dauphin, Pa./Central Dauphin) was Bloomsburg's primary run producer, driving in two of the team's three runs on a 2-for-5 afternoon with a double and her team-leading fifth home run of the season. Despite taking the losses, Callie Sowers (Irwin, Pa/Hempfield Area) and Kelly Eberly (Purcellville, Va/Homeschooled) put in strong efforts from the mound for the Huskies, giving up just 10 hits and three walks to Kutztown in 13.1 innings with 12 combined strikeouts. 

How It Happened:

Game One:
The first leg of Friday's action was the definition of a pitcher's duel, as both teams were out of sync at the plate from the start. Sowers did her job to navigate around the Golden Bears' hitters through the first two innings, exiting both frames without allowing a run despite the home side getting a base runner in scoring position. 

Bloomsburg was similarly able to get runners on through the first three innings but to no avail. The best chance for runs through the first three innings belonged to the Huskies in the top of the third. The top of the lineup, Bella Culp (Harrisburg, Pa/Central Dauphin), Yamrick and Emma Little (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn-Trafford), strung together three consecutive two-out singles to put pressure on Kutztown. The luck ran out one batter short, with the team unable to find the opening strike.

After Sowers retired the Golden Bears in order, Bloomsburg produced the first run of the afternoon. Taylor Kranzley (Northampton, Pa./Northampton) led off the inning with a single and successfully moved to second with a sacrifice bunt from Carly Wywoda (Dupont, Pa./Holy Cross). With two outs, Wenrich delivered on an early-count pitch to rip a double down the left-field line and give the Huskies their lone run in the contest. 

Sowers held on for as long as she could against a talented Golden Bears lineup, escaping the fifth and sixth innings by thwarting two-out rallies from the home team. Bloomsburg had one final chance to provide its starter with insurance following a two-out double from Yamrick but allowed Kutztown to escape with the opportunity for the tie and the win.

The Golden Bears took advantage of the late-inning offerings to steal the decision. Kutztown put two runners on with no outs in the inning after a leadoff single and a close call on a hit-by-pitch. Sowers got the next two batters from Kutztown to fly out, but a two-out single that squeaked into center field drove in the tying run and sent the game into extra innings.

The Golden Bears found the deciding run in the bottom of the eighth, taking advantage of an error from the first at-bat of the inning. With one out, Kutztown delivered a well-struck ball down the line in left field to provide enough time for a pacy base runner to race home.

Game Two:
History repeated itself in game two for the Huskies, seeing an unfortunate end to the day with another late-inning rally from the Golden Bears.

Bloomsburg once again found the opening run by doing so at the top of the second. Wenrich continued a stellar-slugging first-year campaign with an opposite-field solo home run to set up an early 1-0 advantage. Both teams continued to succeed through the middle innings on the pitching side, with neither side able to put a run on the scoreboard from the third through the fifth inning. 

Eberly similarly did a good job managing the attempts for runs by Kutztown. The senior pitcher faced three instances through the first five innings with a runner in scoring position. The left-handed arm showcased her talents, recording the necessary outs with strikeouts and weak contact from the Golden Bears' batting order. 

The Huskies utilized that momentum from their pitching to double their advantage to 2-0 in the top of the sixth. Yamrick doubled with one out to set up Bloomsburg's cleanup hitter. Senior outfielder Mia Nemeth (Drums, Pa/Marian Catholic) stepped into the box and took a 0-1 pitch into a gap in the outfield for her team-best 21st RBI. 

The fortunes flipped for the Huskies in the bottom of the sixth, unable to get the final out to maintain the built advantage. A leadoff walk for Kutztown put the home side in an advantageous situation, eventually moving the runner over with a sacrifice bunt. The one out remained on the scoreboard after a bad hop in the infield allowed the next batter to reach base and put runners on the corners. Eberly did well to get the next batter down on strikes, but a two-out double into the left-center gap tied the game at 2-2. The home-field advantage continued for the Golden Bears, with a poke off the end of the bat getting enough on it to sneak through the right side of the infield and provide Kutztown with its first and only lead of the day. 

Bloomsburg looked to replicate the success the Golden Bears found previously, with Wenrich drawing a leadoff walk and moving over to second via a sacrifice bunt with one out. In the end, the Huskies could not create the chaos they needed to impose their own late-inning heroics.

Numbers of Note
4 - In two games that came down to slim margins, missed opportunities can result in notable impacts. The Huskies were on the end of unfavorable bounces Friday afternoon, with four of the team's five runs going into the scorebook as unearned.

7-2 - Entering Friday, Bloomsburg was highly successful when scoring the game's first run. The Huskies were 7-0 in road and neutral-site games when opening the scoring before today's doubleheader.

On The Horizon:
The Huskies look to bounce back on Saturday, March 29, at 1:00 p.m., when they play a pair of conference games against Millersville.