A chilly three-game losing skid is what the UB softball team (3-5) endured when they kicked off host Tennessee-Chattanooga's Frost Classic on Friday in Tennessee.
The Bulls lost their two opening games on Friday, when they were defeated by the ninth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide 6-3, and Wisconsin Badgers 4-2.
Alabama was up 6-0 before Buffalo could smell home plate and rally for three runs.
Breanne Nasti put the Bulls on the board with a sixth-inning, three-run home run blast.
Jennifer Wright struck out 10 Buffalo batters while only allowing three hits in her complete game. Buffalo's ace Stacey Evans struggled in giving up four earned runs in four innings before the bullpen came to her aid.
The Badgers also jumped on UB in the first of Friday's other game, but the Bulls were able to tie the game in the next inning. Wisconsin's Boo Gillette was quick to respond however, and had an RBI two-out double to score the decisive run in the fifth inning.
Wisconsin's Katie Layne struck out six Buffalo batters and allowed only four hits in her complete game victory.
UB frosh Sophie Barstad had a decent showing, allowing two runs on nine hits in five innings of work.
The losing trend continued on Saturday as the Bulls were defeated by Tennessee Tech 4-1. The game started off with Tennessee scoring two runs without an answer from UB. In the third inning Tennessee Tech added another two with a home run by junior Kacey Bennett.
Strong pitching by the Golden Eagles kept the Bulls down until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Julie Hibner had an RBI that brought in Jackie O'Brien, who was pinch running for Sophie Barstad.
Pitcher Tia Brenning completed the entire game only allowing three hits and striking out five. Four earned runs in 2.1 innings left UB senior Heather Robbins with the loss for Buffalo.
A strong surge by the Bulls kept them in striking distance in game two, when they overpowered the host Mocs 5-1 in extra innings.
Great team effort and sacrifice led to UB's first score when Ann Magur made it to first with a walk. Marce Ross got Magur to third with a sacrifice bunt, and Magur was sent home by a ground out via Nasti.
After that, no one scored until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Mocs got a run to tie things up. With a rush Buffalo put the game far out of comeback territory when they marked up four runs to make it 5-1.
An RBI by Barstad brought home Lisa Wheat, but the icing on the cake was Nasti's second three-run homer of the weekend that gave Barstad and Magur a free ticket home.
Tremendous pitching by Evans in the first five innings kept UB in control throughout the first half of play, but Barstad was marked up for the win as she finished the last three innings for Buffalo.
UB also played split two games on Sunday, winning 2-1 against North Texas and losing 2-1 against Tennessee-Martin in eight innings. Full game stories for those contests will be available in Wednesday's edition of The Spectrum.
