March 26, 2008

Game 1 Box Score: Bucknell 5, UMBC 3
Game 2 Box Score: UMBC 5, Bucknell 1

BALTIMORE, Md. - Erin Curatola (River Edge, N.J./River Dell) and Lauren Fry (South Plainfield, N.J./South Plainfield) each blasted home runs and Christie Wiest (Centre Hall, Pa./Penns Valley) limited UMBC to three hits over the first 6.1 innings as the Bucknell softball team won the first game of a doubleheader 5-3 over the Retrievers Wednesday afternoon. The Bison then dropped game two by a 5-1 margin.

Curatola, a senior, hit her first career home run with one out in the top of the first to put Bucknell (6-18) up 2-0 in game one. Fry led off the third with her first career home run to give the Bison a 3-0 edge.

Fry's home run was one of just two Bucknell hits between Curatola's home run and a single by Mary Pavlovich (Johnstown, Pa./Richland) one out into the sixth. However, with Wiest pitching one of her best games of the year, the offense was not needed.

Wiest held UMBC (10-16) to three hits and no runs over the first 6.1 innings. No Retriever reached third base until the seventh inning when pinch hitter Ashley Gray hit a three-run home run to right center. Wiest, who was pitching in her 100th career game, picked up her 24th career win to improve to 4-9 this season. She recorded two strikeouts and did not walk a batter.

Bucknell added a pair of insurance runs that came in handy in the top of the seventh when Fry hit a two-run double to left-center. Fry was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three runs batted in. She was on base all four times she came to the plate, reaching on a fielder's choice and a walk as well.

Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) pitched the first two-plus innings for UMBC and fell to 3-4. She left the game after Fry's home run in the third. The Bison touched her for four hits, three runs and one walk. Krista Kearns pitched the final five innings and yielded five hits, two runs and one walk while striking out one.

In game two, UMBC scored two runs in the third on a two-run single by Gray and three more in the sixth on a home run by Lauren Brummell.

Bucknell's lone run came in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by Fry, who had three of the Bison's 13 hits in the doubleheader. Bucknell had managed just one hit over the first six innings off UMBC starter Stephanie Weigman (6-8) before Jessie Snyder (Tacoma, Wash./Stadium), Alyssa Okita (Davis, Calif./Davis) and Fry touched her in the seventh. Fefel came in after Fry's RBI double and recorded the final two outs for her first save of the season.

Katie McDonald (York, Pa./West York Area) (2-7) pitched the complete game for the Bison. She allowed just seven hits, but walked four hitters.

Bucknell, which has played four games in the last two days, will open Patriot League play this weekend at Lafayette. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at 1 p.m., while Sunday's will commence at 12 p.m.