SMITHFIELD, R.I. - Kaitie Schumacher (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch) had four hits,
but the Monmouth University softball team was swept by Bryant, 7-4 and 5-4, in
a Northeast Conference doubleheader Saturday afternoon at the Bryant Softball
Complex. With the losses, the Hawks fall to 17-17 (7-7 NEC), while the Bulldogs
improve to 15-21 (7-5 NEC).
Schumacher went 4-for-7 with
two RBI's and a run scored, while Tish Derer (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Basil
Academy) added a 3-for-8 showing, with all three hits in Game 1. Derer also
scored twice and added an RBI. Alicia DeSanto (Upper Darby, Pa./Upper Darby)
contributed a 3-for-5 afternoon, while Kayla Weiser (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski
Area) went 3-for-8. Chelsea Paprocki (Manassas, Va./Forest Park) also chipped
in two hits, including a solo home run in Game 1.
Alissa Schoelkopf (Sewell,
N.J./Washington Township) saw her string of three wins in as many appearances
snapped, taking both losses in the circle. She allowed seven runs, six earned,
on eight hits and two walks for the Game 1 setback. She struck out five.
Schoelkopf then came on in relief with the game tied in the bottom of the sixth
and allowed a solo home run for the decisive run. She struck out two in the
inning. Jordan Barnett (Eads, Colo./Eads [Garden City C.C.]) pitched 2.2
innings of scoreless relief, scattering three hits and a walk, while striking
out one. Lauren Sulick (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) got the Game 2 start and allowed
four earned runs on eight hits in three innings, striking out one.
Taylor Bell came around to
score on a Lauren McCart double in the second to put Bryant on top, 1-0. The
Hawks answered with two runs in the third to take a 2-1 lead. DeSanto led off
with a single and came around to score on Derer's RBI double to center. Derer
then scored on a Schumacher single to give the Hawks the lead.
But Monmouth's undoing was a
four-run bottom of the third for Bryant. Following a leadoff walk, Laura Bowen
homered to left to put the Bulldogs back on top, 3-2. Two runs scored later in the
inning on Bell's single to push the Bryant advantage to 5-2.
Monmouth cut the Bulldogs'
lead to one run with two tallies in the fourth. Paprocki homered to left to lead
off the inning. A two-out Derer infield single, followed by a Schumacher double
brought home the second run of the inning. But Bulldogs' pitcher Brittany Hart
held the Hawks off the scoreboard in the final three frames to secure the
victory. The Bryant offense tacked on two insurance runs on McCart's homer to
left in the bottom of the sixth.
The Hawks couldn't stop the
bleeding early on in Game 2. The Bulldogs got two runs each in the first and
third innings. An RBI single and an run-scoring squeeze play in the first
staked Bryant to a 2-0 lead after one frame. Consecutive doubles and an RBI
single brought in two more for the Bulldogs in the third.
Monmouth batted around to
pull even in the top of the sixth. Three-consecutive hits by Schumacher, Weiser
and Vanessa Cardoza (Santa Ana, Calif./Ocean View) plated the first Hawks run.
After Weiser and Cardoza moved to second and third, respectively, on a throwing
error, Weiser scored on a passed ball. Kayleena Flores (Atwater, Calif./Buhach
Colony) then delivered an RBI single, but was thrown out at second trying to
stretch it into a double. Paprocki was hit by a pitch and DeSanto reached on an
infield single before Christine Scherr (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area) tied the
game with an RBI single.
Lauren Guy then provided the
difference in the game with a homer to right center field in the bottom of the
sixth, accounting for the final 5-4 score. Hart hurled a one-two-three top of
the seventh to seal the victory.
The Hawks return to Northeast
Conference action Sunday, when they travel to Central Connecticut. First pitch
from New Britain, Conn., is scheduled for 12 p.m.
