Bethany knocked off twice at Thiel

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

GREENVILLE, Pa. (April 18) – The Bison dropped a pair of league games to Thiel Tuesday afternoon, falling 2-1 and 3-0 at Tomcat Park.

The losses drop the Bethany College softball team to 12-18 overall, 7-5 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC). Meanwhile, the Tomcats improve to 6-6 in league play, 12-16 overall this season.

GAME 1: Thiel 2, Bethany 1

The Bison rallied to tie the game in the sixth inning, but a walk-off triple by the Tomcats helped Thiel secure a 2-1 win in the first game of the day.

After a pair of scoreless frames, the Tomcats used a trio of singles to plate the game's first run and take a 1-0 lead in the third.

The Bison, who were limited to one hit over the first five innings, broke through in the sixth to tie the game. Bethany loaded the bases on three singles, before senior Sarah Coss (Bowie, Md./Bishop McNamara) delivered a game-tying sacrifice fly that scored freshman Sammie Weiss (Avella, Pa./McGuffey) and tied the game.

Thiel took advantage of having the final at-bats in the seventh inning. The Tomcats got a one-out single and a RBI-triple in consecutive plate appearances to earn the 2-1 walk-off win.

Junior Cassie Weiss (Avella, Pa./McGuffey) fell to 8-11 on the year after limiting Thiel to two runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and only one walk.

Coss led the Bison at the plate with the sacrifice fly and a double in the loss.

GAME 2: Thiel 3, Bethany 0

Despite getting out of three bases loaded situations unscathed, the Bison were dealt a 3-0 loss by Thiel in the final game of the evening.

Junior pitcher Sam Binkley (Kenilworth, Ontario/St. James) helped keep the game scoreless early on by escaping bases loaded jams in the second, third and fourth innings. Thiel finally broke through in the fifth inning to score three runs with the help of a fielding error to take a 3-0 lead.

Bethany's best opportunity to score came in the fourth inning when they had a runner reach third base, but a run down between home plate and third base ended the scoring threat.

Coss was the top batter for the Bison, collecting two of the team's three hits.

Binkley (3-7) took the loss for Bethany in the circle. She yielded three runs (one earned) on nine hits over six innings of work.

The Bison are back at home on Thursday, April 20 when they host Franciscan for a non-conference doubleheader at Bison Field starting at 3 p.m.