CLERMONT, Fla. – The Saint Anselm College softball team concluded its Florida trip with a doubleheader split, taking the first game by a 15-1 score over Wayne State (Neb.) before falling to Bemidji State, 4-3.
The Hawks move to 9-5 on the season and are scheduled to battle Assumption University on Saturday, Mar. 11 in a non-conference doubleheader, starting at 12 p.m. The Wildcats drop to 1-11 with the loss while the Beavers improve to 6-6.
Senior
Kate Irwin (Milford, Mass.), who played in her 100th career game on Monday, collected four hits between the twinbill with three coming against Wayne State. Junior
Gracie O'Hara (Shrewsbury, Mass.) also grabbed four hits on the day. O'Hara and sophomore
Sam Wiberg (Exeter, N.H.) registered five runs batted in each between the games.
Junior
Haile Hicks (Jefferson, N.H.) earned her seventh win of the 2023 season against the Wildcats after allowing just one run on two hits in the five-inning complete game. Sophomore
Sophia DiPippo (Cranston, R.I.) suffered the loss in game two. DiPippo scattered five hits and four runs, three earned, in six innings of work.
GAME ONE: Saint Anselm 15, Wayne State (Neb.) 1
A RBI groundout from Wiberg opened the scoring as O'Hara would cross the plate following a leadoff single in the bottom of the first inning.
The Hawks added three runs in the top of the second inning, taking a 4-0 lead through two innings of play. O'Hara tripled to left center field which scored Irwin and sophomore
Julia Howse (North Reading, Mass.). O'Hara later came across to score on a wild pitch.
Following a leadoff triple by freshman
Rose Reitmeyer (Oxford, Conn.), junior
Hannah Ramer (Rehoboth, Mass.) singled to score the freshman and three batters later, O'Hara was credited with a sacrifice fly, giving the Hawks a 6-0 lead through three.
The Wildcats would get on the scoreboard as consecutive doubles from
Kim Vidlak and
Madison Gomez pushed across one run.
The Hawks put nine runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth, capped by a grand slam from Wiberg. The big fly was the first of Wiberg's collegiate career and pushed the score to its eventual final of 15-1.
GAME TWO: Bemidji State 4, Saint Anselm 3
After a scoreless first inning, the Hawks pushed across the first run in the top of the second. Reitmeyer led off the frame with a triple which set up senior
Meghan Gibbons (Litchfield, N.H.) who singled to center field to plate the game's opening run.
Bemidji State knotted the score in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Mariah Stevenson registered a two-out single which scored
Alexa Christenson, who singled to lead off the inning for the Beavers.
In the top of the sixth inning, Irwin and Howse recorded back-to-back two out singles which preceded a second O'Hara triple on the day that scored both runners, giving the Hawks a 3-1 lead.
A single and a fielding error set up
Elaina Christiansen early in the bottom of the sixth. Christiansen doubled which scored a run before a second error in the inning allowed another run to score which pushed the contest to 3-3.
Ashley Herold brought home the eventual game-winning run with a sacrifice fly later in the frame.
Looking for one run to extend the game, Saint Anselm went three-up, three-down to close the contest with the Beavers claiming a 4-3 win.
