LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates softball team rallied from a five-run deficit to take game one 9-8 in walk-off fashion before falling in game two by a score of 8-2 in Friday's doubleheader against NESCAC rival Bowdoin. 

Bates (8-12, 1-7 NESCAC) takes on Bowdoin (11-13, 1-7 NESCAC) again Friday at 10am in Brunswick in the rubber match of the three-game series. 

Game One: Bates 9, Bowdoin 8

Sophomore Rachel Liazos delivered a walk-off two-RBI single in the bottom of the seventh and the Bates softball team defeated Bowdoin 9-8 in game one of Friday's doubleheader. 

With the Bobcats trailing 8-7 and down to their final strike, Liazos (Westborough, Mass.) smacked a ground ball up the middle, scoring first-year Sarah Cooke (Wenham, Mass.) from third and senior Kennedy Ishii (Honolulu, Hawaii) from second to win the game. 

Bates entered game one having hit three home runs as a team on the season. The Bobcats matched that total in a single game Friday with three long balls against the Polar Bears.

Cooke led off the bottom of the first with a walk. Ishii bunted her to second, and with two away junior Lindsey Kim (Palo Alto, Calif.) launched a two-run shot over the fence in left-center, the first home run of her collegiate career. 

It was a short-lived 2-0 lead for the Bobcats, with Bowdoin scoring six runs in the top of the second. 

Lilly Armstrong got the Bowdoin offense going with a single through the left side. She stole second and scored on a JK Bradley single through the right side. Three walks led to the tying run crossing the plate and Angelina Mayers hit a grand slam home run to put the Polar Bears up 6-2. A Bradley homer in the top of the third extended the lead to 7-2. 

Cooke led off the bottom of the third inning with a line drive over the left field fence for her first collegiate home run, cutting the deficit to 7-3. But an Armstrong RBI single made the score 8-3 in favor of Bowdoin through four innings. 

Down by five, the Bobcats got to work in the bottom of the fifth. With one away, senior Aleah Pagan (Orinda, Calif.) singled through the left side. She stole second and Cooke ripped a line drive into left field, hustling to second base for a double while Pagan ended up on third base. 

Ishii bunted Pagan home and senior captain Janell Sato (Honolulu, Hawaii) hit the third homer of the day for Bates, cutting the deficit to 8-6. 

The Bobcats still trailed 8-6 entering the bottom of the seventh. Pinch hitter sophomore Cameron Jones-McNally (Marcellus, Mich.) singled to left field leading off the inning. Pagan bunted the runner over and Cooke drew a walk, putting the tying runs aboard. Ishii bunted her away aboard, loading the bases with one out. 

Sato hit a ball to deep right field that was dropped, allowing her to reach first safely, and keeping the bases loaded as pinch runner senior captain Emily Samar (New York City) scored on the play.  

Kim popped out, leaving Bates one out away from defeat, but Liazos came up huge for the walk-off base hit. 

Senior Danielle Polirer (Bellmore, N.Y.) pitched a complete game to earn the win for Bates, her sixth victory of the season against just three losses. Cooke went 2-2 with four runs scored, an RBI and two walks to go along with her solo homer. Liazos went 2-4 at the plate, with her second hit clinching the victory.
 

Game Two: Bowdoin 8, Bates 2

The Bobcats grabbed the early lead in game two but Bowdoin scored two runs in the fourth and pulled away with four in the sixth to defeat the Bobcats 8-2 in game two of Friday's doubleheader.

Cooke continued to tear the cover off the ball, going 3-4 in game two and raising her batting average to .396, second on the team to Kim (.450), who has hit safely in all 18 games she's played in this year for the Bobcats.

With one out in the bottom of the third, Pagan reached on an error. Cooke singled and Ishii bunted the runners over. Then Sato drove in Pagan with a single through the left side, putting the Bobcats up 1-0.

The Polar Bears took the lead back, and for good, on a two-run homer by Katryna Dukehart in the top of the fourth.

Sato drove in Cooke for the second time in the game with another RBI single in the fifth but that was all the offense for the Bobcats in the second game.

Shea Sullivan (5-3) went the distance to earn the win for the visitors.