Softball drops doubleheader at Thomas More

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. (April 24) - The Bison were defeated in a pair of games by Thomas More after falling by scores of 3-2 (nine innings) and 5-1 in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader Monday.

The losses drop the Bison to 14-22 overall, 6-10 in the PAC. Meanwhile, Thomas More improves to 16-0 in league play, 30-8 overall this season.

GAME 1: Thomas More 3, Bethany 2 (Final/9 Innings)

The Bison were handed a 3-2 loss in the ninth inning of game one to open the day.

After being held to one hit over the first three innings, Bethany broke out in the fourth inning with a pair of base hits by junior Jazz Fuqua (Washington, Pa./Trinity) and senior Sarah Coss (Bowie, Md./Bishop McNamara) and took advantage of an error in the outfield to take a 2-0 lead.

Thomas More cut into the lead with a run in the fifth inning, but the Bison managed to carry a 2-1 lead into the final frame.

The Saints tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with a lead-off solo home run, sending the game into extra innings.

Bethany was kept out of scoring position in the eighth and ninth innings. Thomas More led the ninth inning off with a walk and a double to put the winning run at third base with no outs. Junior pitcher Cassie Weiss (Avella, Pa./McGuffey) got the next batter to strike out, but the next batter drove a ball deep enough to center field to allow the game-winning run to tag and score from third base.

Weiss was charged with the loss despite holding the Saints to three runs (two earned) on six hits with five strikeouts over 8.2 innings in the circle. Thomas More pitcher Alix DeDreu improved to 15-2 on the season after holding the Bison to two runs (unearned) on five hits with eight strikeouts.

GAME 2: Thomas More 6, Bethany 1

A four-run fifth inning by the Saints helped send the Bison to a 6-1 defeat in the second game of the doubleheader.

Thomas More scored runs in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead early on,but the Bison narrowed the gap in the fourth. Freshman Tyra Bell (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) came up with a two-out RBI-single to slice the deficit in half at 2-1.

The Saints put the game out of reach with a four-run fifth inning, including a three-run home run with two outs to make the score 6-1.

Bethany had a base-hit in each of the final three innings, but were unable to string anything together in the loss.

Several Bison finished the game with a base-hit, including Bell, who had the team's lone RBI on the day.

Junior pitcher Sam Binkley (Kenilworth, Ontario/St. James) took the loss after allowing six runs on 11 hits with three strikeouts over six innings of work.

The Bison will take a break from their PAC slate when they host Otterbein for a non-conference doubleheader on Thursday, April 27 at 3:30 p.m.