The softball team was out on the field on a cold and windy day attempting to record its 10th win of the season at the Demske Sports Complex.
The Bulls (9-26, 4-4 Mid-American Conference) took on Canisius (16-17, 3-5 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) on Tuesday in game one of a two game series. Buffalo came up short and lost its third consecutive game, 6-2.
The Bulls struck first on the scoreboard. Freshman third basemen Tori Pettine led off the second inning with a single. Sophomore second baseman Andi Saucier followed with another single.
The Bulls had runners on second and third, as Pettine scored on a throwing error by the Canisius catcher. The Bulls were unable to score any other runs in the inning after senior left fielder Alex Bejarano and designated pitcher Kelli Gleiser both struck out.
Getting big hits was a problem for the Bulls all day and head coach Jennifer Teague addressed it after the game.
"We just came out flat today," Teague said. "I'm not sure if it was because of the weather, but Canisius was playing in the same conditions as us. We just didn't get timely hits and make the proper adjustments at the plate. We didn't make great contact with the ball, and that hurt us a lot today."
Junior pitcher Molly Johnson started the game for the Bulls. She only pitched two innings and gave up both runs in the second inning. She had problems finding the zone, and walked four batters as a result. Canisius took advantage of Johnson's lack of command of the plate and stole four bases in the inning.
The Bulls recorded one more run in the third inning. Freshman center fielder Holly Luciano reached base on a fielding error. Sophomore left fielder Ashley Bertot drove Luciano home with an RBI single to tie the game, 2-2.
The Bulls turned to freshman pitcher Tori Speckman in the third inning for some help. She pitched the rest of the game for the Bulls, throwing four innings and giving up four runs as well.
"Our pitchers really weren't at their best today," Teague said. "We put batters on base early in innings and didn't get big outs when we needed it. It also didn't help that the meat of our order didn't show up today. We need to come out with more energy then we showed today."
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Canisius added two runs on a missed call by the umpires. With a runner on first and one out, Canisius third baseman Page Freiberger stepped up to the plate. She hit a shot to right field that bounced on the ground and one-hopped over the fence. To Teague's surprise, the umpires ruled the hit a home run. "My right fielder put her hands up to show the umps that it bounced over the fence and the ball went out of play," Teague said. "It should have been a ground-rule double but the ump was convinced that he saw it go over the fence. No other ump got a good look at it, so it was just one of those unfortunate things."
The Bulls look to bounce back as they host Canisius in game two on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
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