MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - The Bloomsburg softball team split its road doubleheader against Millersville to wrap up another week of action Saturday afternoon.

The Huskies (15-9, 5-5 PSAC East) suffered a disappointing defeat in game one, a 4-3 defeat that ended in the ninth, to begin the day. Bloomsburg rebounded in the second contest, coming away with a 9-3 result over the Marauders. After a less-than-desired output to start the day, the Huskies totaled nine runs on 18 hits.

Sarah Yamrick (Fort Myers, Fla./Bishop Verot) improved to 5-1 on the season, picking up her second conference victory of the season. The sophomore gave up three runs in the first inning to begin the day before settling down to blank Millersville for the rest of the afternoon and record a career-high eight strikeouts. 

How It Happened:

Game One:
Bloomsburg continued its weekend trend of scoring first but could not hold on within the standard seven innings to capture the result. The Huskies got on the scoreboard in the second inning to grab an early 1-0 lead. Mia Nemeth (Drums, Pa/Marian Catholic) got the inning off to a big start with a leadoff triple after the right fielder misjudged a tailing ball. Two at-bats later, the senior center fielder was driven in by her counterpart in right field, Allie Wenrich (Dauphin, Pa./Central Dauphin), via a sacrifice fly.

The lead doubled in the fourth inning, with Nemeth catalyzing the action again. The senior singled to the gap in right field to get things rolling before getting bunted over to second by Taylor Kranzley (Northampton, Pa./Northampton). The outfielder crept her way home, taking advantage of a fly ball before scoring on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.

Millersville got one run back with two outs in the bottom of the fourth after an untimely interference call at second base. After an errant throw skipped into the outfield in an attempt to close the inning, the Marauders' runner continued on her path and was delayed momentarily getting up. Deciding to round third base, Bloomsburg got in the ensuing relay throw at home to get the runner with plenty of time, but the home plate umpire overruled and awarded the runner home plate and the run to force a 2-1 ball game. 

The Huskies left a runner on base in the next two innings, giving Millersville life in the late stages of the ball game. Those opportunities parlayed into a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to take a 3-2 lead heading into the top of the seventh. Bloomsburg did not go down without a fight, as Maluani Frost homered on the first pitch of the inning to tie the game and force extra innings.

The Huskies flirted in the late innings to add needed runs but could not capitalize with two runners on and one out. That onus and pressure caught up with Bloomsburg, leading to a two-out rally for the Marauders to swipe game one from the Huskies.

Game Two:
The fireworks started early for both teams, with five total runs between the sides through the first inning. Bloomsburg took advantage of a bases-loaded situation for two runs, with Yamrick and Wenrich helping supply the offense. The Huskies would score just those two runs despite having the bases loaded with just one out. Millersville took advantage of its own bases-loaded situation, clearing the bases with a double. The Marauders would maintain the threat with runners on second and third with two outs. Yamrick got the final batter of the inning on a called third strike to prevent further damage. 

A scoreless second inning cleared the path for Bloomsburg to regain the lead in the third inning. With one out, Emma Little (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn-Trafford) started a run of five consecutive hits for the Huskies with a double. Yamrick drove in the senior with a single and came around on Wenrich's sixth home run of the season to make it a 5-3 game. Carly Wywoda (Dupont, Pa./Holy Cross) and Taylor Welsh (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville) kept things rolling with back-to-back singles, but an untimely line drive right to first base provided no time to react and end the inning. 

Bloomsburg maintained the offensive pressure with another three runs in the top of the fourth. Bella Culp (Harrisburg, Pa/Central Dauphin) and Kranzley opened the inning with a single and a double to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Following a sacrifice fly from Nemeth, Little drove in Kranzley with a double to up the Huskies' advantage to 7-3. A Yamrick single put runners on the corners and allowed Wenrich to drive in her third run of the game with a sacrifice fly to extend the advantage to 8-3. 

Yamrick's final six innings of the contest were defined by regained control, preventing Millersville from replicating their success in the first inning. The sophomore did not allow a base runner past first base until the sixth and seventh innings. The right-handed arm navigated the late-inning situations tremendously, thwarting the hopes of the Marauders. Bloomsburg added one final run to make it a six-run game in the seventh to help their pitcher's cause with an RBI single from Kranzley. 

Numbers of Note
1 - The Huskies have remained competitive in their games all season but have faced a run of bad luck in one-run games. Bloomsburg is now 4-6 in its 10 games decided by one run in PSAC games. That includes 1-3 in those situations during conference play and 0-3 on the season in extra innings, with all three defeats coming on the road.

51-11 | 9-23 - The Huskies' start to the conference slate can best be described as streaky. In five PSAC victories, the Huskies are outscoring opponents 51-11, an average of a 10-2 result per game. In five division defeats, Bloomsburg has scored nine runs to 23 for its opponents, an average score of around 2-4.

9 - The success of game two can be attributed to a mental reset from the Huskies' lineup. All nine members of Bloomsburg's starting lineup registered at least one hit, with six recording multi-hit games. 

On The Horizon:
The Huskies end a stretch of six consecutive road games on Tuesday, April 1, at 2:00 p.m. with two games against Lock Haven.