February 27, 2009

SOFTBALL DROPS PAIR IN OPENING DAY ACTION AT FLORIDA GULF COAST

Game 1 - Dartmouth 8, Bryant 3 - Boxscore
Game 2 - Colgate 8, Bryant 7 (9 innings)  - Boxscore

FORT MYERS, FL - The Bryant women's softball team dropped a pair of games Friday in the opening day of the Florida Gulf Coast University Spring Break Tournament.  The Bulldogs fell to Dartmouth 8-3 and Colgate 8-7 in nine innings Friday. 

Against Dartmouth in the opener, the Big Green used two runs in the second, third, fifth and sixth inning s to post the win over the Bulldogs who are playing their first year competing at the Division I level. Freshman Laura Bowen (Hudson, Mass.) went three-for-four in the contest, belting a homerun in the seventh inning while scoring two runs, recording her first career homerun and RBI in the losing effort.

Dartmouth had eight players record hits in the game, as Audrey Kolodziej and Nikki Yee both drove in a pair of runs, while Molly Khalil recorded three hits in four at-bats while scoring three times.

In the second game, Ashley Coon (Levittown, Pa.) went 3-for-4 with four RBI and a run scored while Anne Dobmeier (Buffalo, N.Y.) went 2-for-5 at the plate and scored twice as the Bulldogs dropped a heartbreaker, 8-7 in nine innings to Colgate University.

Trailing 5-1 in the top of the fifth, Dobmeier gave the Bulldogs some life, singling home Bowen with a two-out single up the middle. Kate Thomas (Bedford, N.H.) the drew a walk before Coon laced a double to left to score both runs, and get Bryant back within a run, trailing 5-4.

The Bulldogs took a 7-6 lead in the top of the seventh inning, scoring three times including a two-run double by Thomas to tie the game and go-ahead single by Coon.  Thomas went one-for-three in the game, scoring twice to go along with her two RBI.

But Colgate would rally in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game and force extra innings, as Ashley Rowe hit a single to right rield to score Jennifer Ortega from second, knotting the game at seven apiece. 

Under the international tie-breaking rules, which places a runner on second base to start each extra inning, Colgate came up with the winning run in the ninth, as Calla Yee scored on a wild pitch after advancing to third on a Rowe ground out after holding Bryant scoreless in the top of the eighth and ninth innings.

The Bulldogs will face Saint Francis (PA) and Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday and Colgate once again Sunday before returning back to Rhode Island.