WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- Bates College, batting .322 as a team over its first four outings of the 2023 campaign, rapped 19 hits and plated 13 runs Monday en route to victories over the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and Carleton College (Minn.) on day two of The Spring Games.

GAME ONE (Bobcats 4, Wisconsin-Platteville 3)

Bates jumped out to a 3-0 lead vs. Wisconsin-Platteville and held on to defeat the Pioneers, 4-3, in Monday's opener. 

The Bobcats attacked first in the bottom of the game's initial frame as DP Kennedy Jones (Fy.-Ocean Springs, Miss.) brought home LF Sarah Cooke (So.-Wenham, Mass.), who lead off the inning with a single to left-center. Bates tacked on two more tallies in the third, courtesy of a run-inducing throwing error by the Pioneers' defense, followed by a ribbie double off the bat of SS Ella Maher (Fy.-Newton, Mass.).

Wisconsin-Platteville (5-3) sliced its deficit to two with a fourth-inning sac fly, but the Bobcats countered in the bottom of the stanza as an Amanda Taylor (Sr.-Fair Lawn, N.J.) single scooted past the Pioneers' right-fielder, bringing in Grace Householter (So.-Manhattan Beach, Calif.) from second after the sophomore singled and advanced on a wild pitch.

Starting pitcher, Delaney Rankin (St. Johnsbury, Vt.), wiggled out of a jam in the top of the sixth, permitting a pair of one-out, unearned runs before inducing a fielder's choice and pop out to end the Pioneer threat. Rankin went the distance (6.0 IP), yielding just the three runs (0 ER) on six hits (2 K) as the first-year collected her first collegiate victory.

Katherine Merisotis (Sr.-Conventry, Conn.) came on to pitch the seventh as the senior spun a scoreless stanza to earn the save.

GAME TWO (Bobcats 9, Carleton 5)

A five-run first, followed by three more runs in the third, provided the Bobcats a healthy 8-0 cushion after two-and-a-half innings of play as the garnet and white managed to outlast a pesky Carleton College squad, 9-5.

The Knights (6-4) managed to make it an 8-3 game with a trio of tallies in the bottom of the third while inching closer with individual runs in the fifth and sixth, respectively, but Carleton could not climb any closer as the Bobcats ultimately nailed down their third-consecutive victory.

Madison Hollis (McMinnville, Tenn.) authored a complete-game performance (7.0 IP), yielding only three earned runs (5 R) on 11 hits and a free pass (5 K), as the first-year, like Rankin, earns her first win as a collegian.

Householter was a perfect 2-for-2 at the dish with two RBI as the right-fielder is now batting an inflated .833 (5-for-6) over her first three showings of the season. CF Cassidy Musco (Sr.-Walpole, Mass.) went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI in the lead-off spot. DP Maggie Hillwig (So.-Phoenix, Md.) added a 2-for-3  showing with a pair of runs scored in the nightcap.

Merisotis, getting the start at first base, enjoyed a 1-for-4, two-RBI contribution at the dish for the victors.

Bates (3-1) now looks to Tuesday as the garnet and white opens the morning at 9:00 a.m. vs. Keuka College (N.Y.), followed by a 2:00 p.m. meeting with the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.