Kelsey Freedman once homered for the second day in a row and threw a complete game shutout against Trinity College on April 24, 2015. (Photo by Josh Kuckens/Bates College) 

LEWISTON, Maine - Kelsey Freedman threw a five-hit shutout and hit a home run for the second day in a row as the Bates College softball team defeated Trinity College 2-0 in NESCAC East action on Friday afternoon. The teams return to action Saturday afternoon with a double header at Lafayette Street Field in Lewiston beginning at noon.

Bates (8-19, 2-7 NESCAC) and Trinity (6-22, 2-8 NESCAC) each left six runners on base in a game that turned out to be a pitcher's duel. Trinity's Hannah King allowed only four hits in the game, and only one hit in the first four innings. That one hit was the home run by Freedman (Falmouth, Maine), who scattered five hits over seven innings while striking out nine and walking only one to pick up her sixth win of the season. King put up similar numbers for the Bantams, striking out nine and walking only one in six innings of work as she fell to 5-10 on the year.

The hot hitting Freedman is now 7-11 in the last three games, with three RBIs and a pair of home runs. Karen Lockhart (East Greenwich, R.I.) and Brenna Callahan (Milton, Mass.) had the other two hits for Bates, with Lockhart also knocking in her team leading 11th RBI on the season. The Bantams had five different players record hits, all singles, in the game.

With one out in the bottom of the first, Freedman launched a no doubter over the center field fence to give the Bobcats the one run lead. Kira Shaikh (Manchester, Conn.) was hit by a pitch and stole second, but Trinity's King found a groove after that, retiring 11 of the next 12 batters she faced, as one Bobcat reached on an error.

Trinity put the lead off batter in the third and fourth innings. Alex Hnat singled to center to start the third, but was thrown out on at second on a fielder's choice from Michelle Treglia. Freedman notched a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning.

In the fourth, the Bantam half of the inning began with an Erica Quinones single up the middle and she moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Paolo Otero. Miranda Riendeau flied out to right field to move Quinones to third, but Freedman again got out of the jam by striking out Katharine Haghdan.

Trinity's final scoring opportunity came in the fifth, with back to back two-out singles from Bianca Brenz and Michelle Treglia. Freedman got Meaghan Race to ground out to third to end the inning, and the Bobcats added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth, as Lockhart singled through the left side, scoring Paige Ahlholm (North Andover, Mass.), who walked and took second on a sacrifice bunt from Victoria Fitzgerald (Holliston, Mass.).

The three game series wraps up April 25 with the first game beginning at noon and the second scheduled for 2:00 p.m.