Bates College

LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates softball team earned a key doubleheader split with No. 19 nationally ranked Colby on Wednesday at Lafayette Street Field, keeping their hopes of a NESCAC tournament bid alive. 

The Bobcats (15-18, 5-11 NESCAC) are tied with Amherst for the final NESCAC tournament spot with two games remaining. They'll host Trinity in a doubleheader this Saturday at noon to conclude the regular season. 

Game One: Colby 2, Bates 0

Colby's Sophia Meade threw a no-hitter in game one of Wednesday's twin bill as the Mules won 2-0.

Meade (9-2) struck out seven batters and walked a pair on the afternoon. Bates sophomore starting pitcher Brigid Gaffny (North Andover, Mass.) also tossed a complete game, scattering nine hits and striking out one.

Carissa Cassidy paced Colby at the plate in game one, going 4-4 with a run scored and an RBI. She singled up the middle to start the game and Emma Burnham bunted her to second. Ella Wilcox grounded out, moving Cassidy to third. Then Juliana Kiley singled her home for a 1-0 Mule lead.

Gaffny (2-7) retired the first two batters in the top of the second before Julia Berry singled and stole second. Cassidy singled her in and the Mules went ahead 2-0.

Junior Zariya Anderson (Medina, Minn.) and senior Sophie Garber (Waterville Valley, N.H.) drew two-out walks in the second and fourth innings, respectively. But they did not lead to anything for the Bobcats. 

First-year Paige Schedler (Potomac Falls, Va.) tried to bunt her way on base to start the sixth. The throw to first got dropped for an error, but Schedler ended up stranded at first.

Despite the loss, Gaffny lowered her ERA to 3.02 on the season. 
 
Game Two: Bates 4, Colby 2

The Bobcats scored three times in the fifth inning and prevailed 4-2 over Colby in game two of Wednesday's doubleheader.

Junior Isabella Albro (New York City) tossed a complete game, holding Colby (24-9, 10-6 NESCAC) to six hits.

With the score tied at one, Anderson got the Bates offense started in the fifth with a double. Senior Emma Yen (Albertson, N.Y.) bunted her to third and sophomore Maddy Miller (Norway, Maine) singled through the right side to score Anderson for a 2-1 Bates lead. Junior Emily Kennedy (East Hampton, N.Y.) singled Miller to second and junior Maya Lee (Wayland, Mass.) singled her home. Senior captain Ella Maher (Newton, Mass.) recorded the fourth straight single in the inning for Bates, plating Kennedy and putting the Bobcats ahead 4-1. 

The Mules responded with a run in the top of the sixth. Burnham walked to start the frame and Wilcox bunted her to second. Kiley doubled in Burnham and pinch runner Josephine Kim advanced to third on a ground out. An error allowed Avery Lyman to reach, but Kim had to hold at third. Then Albro (4-3) got Caroline DeSimone to ground out to end the inning with the Bobcats up 4-2.

Albro followed that up by working a 1-2-3 seventh inning as Bates snapped a four-game losing streak to the Mules.

Colby starting pitcher Sharlotte Stazinski (9-5) started the game strong by striking out the side in the first and recording two more K's in the second. But the Bobcats got to her in the third. Yen reached on an error and Miller bunted her to second. Kennedy followed with a slow grounder in front of the plate. The Mules threw her out at first but Yen hustled all the way around from second to score on the play, giving the Bobcats a 1-0 lead. 

A Kelsey Sullivan RBI double in the fifth tied the game at one. But Albro got a pair of ground outs to leave her stranded, setting up the Bobcats for their big bottom of the frame. 

Lee paced the Bobcats at the plate in game two, going 2-3 with an RBI. Sullivan led Colby, going 2-3 with an RBI as both teams finished with six hits.