CLERMONT, Fla. – After pulling out a 4-3 victory over Augustana College in the final inning, the Carleton College softball team lost its second game of the day, 5-0, to Buffalo State.
Game 1 – Carleton 4, Augustana 3
Starters
Becca Madsen and Addie Garr both tossed blanks in the first and conceded in the second. The Knights (10-4) saw
Esme Song single to start inning two and steal second and third around an
Angelina Wu walk.
Megan Smith then cracked a single to center to score both. Alaina Diaz hit a solo homer for the Vikings (2-5) in the bottom of the frame to make the score 2-1.
Augustana tied things up in the third. Lilli Burton doubled to chase Madsen, and Emma Schmidt hit an RBI single off reliever
Rachel Block.
Gloria Hronek then started the fourth with a pinch-hit single. Wu beat out a bunt hit, and Smith sac bunted both runners over.
Samantha Rodriguez brought Hronek around with an RBI single for a 3-2 Carleton lead.
Block had been cruising in the circle since the third, but Augustana finally got to her in the sixth when Madi Bickell hit a solo shot to tie the game at 3-3.
In the top of the seventh,
Adriana Wiggins singled and stole second.
Jade Thach then came through with a double to bring Wiggins across, putting the Knights up 4-3. Block worked around an error in the bottom of the seventh to secure the victory for the maize and blue.
Madsen tossed 2.0 innings, allowing two runs. Block spun 5.0 one-run innings, allowing four hits. She struck out three while walking none.
Wiggins finished 2-for-4 with a run. Thach was 1-for-3 with a walk and RBI double. Wu went 1-for-2 with a walk and run.
Game 2 – Buffalo State 5, Carleton 0
The Bengals (6-4) used three hits and three walks to push across four runs in the first. In the process, Buffalo State became the first team since Feb. 14 to score an earned run off Carleton right-hander
Sydney Trentman, snapping a 39.0-inning streak. Smith led off the Carleton half of the first with a double, but Carleton could not cash in.
The Bengals worked two more walks in the second, and Erin Paolilli singled in one of them to take the score to 5-0.
Genevieve Lyon took to the rubber in the third and stacked up scoreless stanzas to keep the Knights in the contest.
Carleton threatened with runners in scoring position in the third, fifth, and seventh, but Buffalo State righty Izzy Pezdek kept runs off the board each time to finish a complete game shutout.
Trentman absorbed her first loss of the season, striking out two over 2.0 innings. Lyon threw 5.0 stellar shutout innings in relief, allowing only one hit and fanning a pair.
Smith went 2-for-3 with a walk and a double.
Grace Colburn walked and singled in her three plate appearances.
Cora zumBrunnen knocked a pinch-hit double, her first career extra-base hit.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton has one final twin bill on its Spring Break schedule. On Thursday, Mar. 26, the Knights face St. Lawrence University at 12:30 p.m. EDT/11:30 a.m. CDT at Legends Way Field No. 1 before taking on Middlebury College after the conclusion of the day's first contest.
