Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
 
Staten Island, NY – The Wagner College softball team lost two key Northeast Conference (NEC) games today, being swept by Bryant 6-5 and 6-1, in a two-game series at Wagner Field.

The two losses drop the Green & White to 10-16 overall and 3-7 in the league, having lost their last four NEC contests. Bryant, who came into the day with just one win in NEC play, improved to .500 in the conference, moving to 3-3 and 10-17 overall.

The day began with freshman Samantha Bedker (Phoenix, AZ / Sandra Day O'Connor) taking the mound for the Seahawks against Bryant's Brittany Hart. The Bulldogs quickly jumped out to an early lead, picking up two runs on two hits in the first inning, putting Wagner behind from the start.

The Seahawks got one run back in their half of the first inning when junior Brittany Huss (Anthem, AZ / Boulder Creek) tallied her first triple of the year, scoring sophomore Kristen Matteoni (Reno, NV /. Galena) who leadoff the inning with a single.

Junior Judy Betz (Ashburn, VA / Broad Run) came in for relief of Bedker midway through the top of the second inning, taking over a no-out, two-runner on situation. After a sacrifice bunt put the two Bulldog runners in scoring position, Lauren Guy hit a blooper into centerfield, scoring one and putting her team up, 3-1.

Sophomore MacKenzie Alfaro (Riverside, CA / Riverside) led off the bottom of the second for the Seahawks with a rope double down the left field line, and worked her way around the base paths on a sacrifice fly by Ashley Olsen (Staten Island, NY / Notre Dame Academy), and scored from third on a two-out wild pitch, making it a one-run game, 3-2.

The Seahawks knotted the game up at three apiece in their next at bats, when a leadoff double by freshman Kelsey Parker (Lynnwood, WA / Lynnwood) and two walks loaded the bases for Olsen, who delivered again with a RBI single to left field.

Bryant came right back to regain its lead in the top of the fifth inning when Aubrey Mable hit a solo shot over the centerfield fence to put the Bulldogs back up by a score of 4-3.

Bryant pitcher Brittany Hart kept her team on top until the bottom of the seventh when Parker leadoff with a rope double to right field, giving the Seahawks the tying run on base. The Bulldogs brought in Jennifer Jacob to try and pick up the save, but freshman Jessica Albarran (Corona, CA / Eleanor Roosevelt) tied the game with one swing, hitting a long sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Parker, and sending the Seahawks into their fifth extra-inning affair of the season.

Both Jacobs and Betz held their ground, as each allowed just one hit in their respective defensive innings, sending the game to the ninth.

Bryant needed just two hits to take a two-run lead, as both Lauren Guy and Aubrey Mable hit solo homeruns to put the pressure on the Seahawks offense in their half of the inning.

Sophomore Taylor Rauscher (Peoria, AZ / Sunrise Mountain) led off the bottom of the ninth with her third double of the season, giving Wagner some life early in the inning. Two batters later, Huss hit a one-out single up the middle, scoring Rauscher and bringing the Seahawks within one, 6-5. The hits by Rauscher and Huss would be the last that the Green & White would get, as Jacobs shutdown the final few batters to seal the one-run victory.

Betz was credited with her fourth loss of the year, throwing eight innings, allowing three runs on six hits. Jacob picked up her fifth win of the year for the Bulldogs.

To start game two, Wagner head coach Glen Payne elected to go with sophomore Ashley Rollins (Fairfax, VA / Fairfax) in the circle for just her second start of the year. The second-year righty made quick work of the first three Bulldogs, needing just six pitches to retire the side.

Bryant, however, opened the scoring in their next plate appearances as a walk and a base hit gave the Bulldogs some early runners on the paths. A two-out, two-RBI single by Kate Murray put the visitors up by a couple heading into the bottom of the second inning.

Jacob, Bryant's starting pitcher, kept the Seahawks off the scoreboard until the bottom of the third when Parker belted a solo homerun over the centerfield fence to make it a one-run game. Huss and Alfaro also recorded base hits after
Parker's solo shot, but Jacobs got her team out of the two-runner jam, keeping the score 2-1.

The Bulldogs extended their lead in the top of the fifth, when a double by Laura Bowen scored two and put Bryant up, 4-1. Freshman Olivia Zwick (Surrey, Canada / Earl Marriot) came in for relief of Rollins, trying to get her team out of a three-run deficit, but early control issues loaded the bases and a wild pitch brought across the Bulldogs fifth run.

Bryant would score its sixth run in the top of the seventh inning when Madeline Velasquez leadoff with a double and later scored on another Zwick wild pitch, widening the Bulldogs lead to five runs.

Hart, who came in to close out the Seahawks in the bottom of the seventh, did just that, allowing no hits and sealing the Bulldogs 6-1 victory.

Parker led the Green & White offensively, recording two hits and the team's only run in game two. She totaled four hits and three runs scored on the day.

Wagner will keep its busy schedule moving, traveling to Saint Peter's on Tuesday, April 10^th, and Yale on Wednesday, April 11^th, for two non-conference doubleheaders.