BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Bloomsburg softball team celebrated Senior Day by taking down Mansfield in both legs of its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) conference doubleheader at Jan M. Hutchinson Field on Sunday afternoon.
 
Bloomsburg (25-17, 15-13 PSAC East) amassed 20 hits during senior day, including 14 in the second game. The Huskies' defense managed to hold Mansfield (6-32, 3-27) to just six hits on the day.
 
Sydney Thompson (Karthaus, Pa./Bald Eagle Area) led the maroon and gold with four hits and six RBIs while going 4-6 across the two contests. Taylor Kranzley (Northampton, Pa./Northampton) capped her senior day celebrations with a 3-for-4 performance in the nightcap while fellow senior Taylor Welsh (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville) went 3-for-5.
 
Game One – Bloomsburg 6, Mansfield 0
 
The opener saw defense and pitching excel as the two sides combined for just three hits through first four and a half innings. Josie Straigis (Greensburg, Pa./Greater Latrobe) notched five strikeouts in the first five minutes.
 
Bloomsburg got on the board in the bottom of the fifth as a walk to Kranzley and a hit by pitch to Alizabeth Shuler put two runners on for Thompson. The designated player then drove a two-run double into left field to put the Huskies ahead 2-0.
 
Straigis led off the bottom of the sixth with a double down the left field line before Allie Wenrich (Dauphin, Pa./Central Dauphin) bunted her way onto first base. Reagan Wiest (Sunbury, Pa./Shikellamy) then reached on a throwing error to load the bases. Carly Wywoda (Dupont, Pa./Holy Cross) battled her way to a walk, bring in Bloomsburg's third run in the process. A double to right centerfield from Welsh scored Wenrich and Wiest's runs. Kranzley brought home the final run of the contest on a sacrifice fly to score Wywoda.
 
Straigis picked up her eighth win of the season, posting a four-hit shutout while striking out five.
 
Game Two – Bloomsburg 10, Mansfield 2
 
Schuler set the tone early in the nightcap, crushing a one-out triple in the gap in right centerfield in the first inning. Thompson posted her third RBI of the day in the next at bat on a sacrifice fly.
 
The Huskies went three-up, three-down in the top of the second with a pair of strikeouts to go right back on offensive. Welsh doubled the lead for Bloomsburg on a single through the right side to score Wenrich.
 
Wenrich found her way back to the plate in the third, this time launching a two-run home run over the left field wall to make it 4-0.
 
The Mountaineers cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth on a two-RBI single that made its way up the middle of the field.
 
Bloomsburg took control of the momentum again as the Huskies bats stayed hot in the bottom of the fourth. A led off double from Emma Holmes (Mount Wolf, Pa./Northeastern Senior) and a bunt-single from Welsh put runners on the corners early. Kranzley laid down a bunt of her own, bring Holmes across the plate. Schuler made it 6-2 on her RBI-double to centerfield. Back-to-back singles from Thompson and Jenna Kaufman (Audubon, Pa./Methacton) advanced the maroon and gold's lead to 8-2.
 
The bottom of the seventh saw back-to-back singles from Gabby Starr (Berwick, Pa./Berwick Area) and Kranzley set the stage for Thompson's two-RBI single to right field to end the game in the fifth.
 
Becca Varhula (Philadelphia, Pa./School Lane Charter - IB) picked up her sixth win of the season, striking out seven and allowing just two runs on two hits.
 
Bloomsburg returns to Jan M. Hutchinson Field on Friday, May 1 as they host East Stroudsburg for a 2 p.m. doubleheader.