Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Logo of The Spectrum
Thursday, March 28, 2024
The independent student publication of The University at Buffalo, since 1950

Power on the mound and plate

Junior pitcher Ally Power and home runs lead Bulls past Akron

<p>Sophomore catcher Jessica Goldyn celebrates after hitting a lead off home run. Buffalo swept Akron in a doubleheader on Tuesday.</p>

Sophomore catcher Jessica Goldyn celebrates after hitting a lead off home run. Buffalo swept Akron in a doubleheader on Tuesday.

UB softball completed the two-game sweep of the Akron Zips with ease in a home double-header Tuesday afternoon. The teams played in cold rainy weather, but that had little effect on Buffalo’s performance. The Bulls never fell behind by more than one run, including a run-rule victory in game one. The Bulls finished game one in five innings with a 16-1 victory and won the second game 7-4.

“It’s huge for the program. We want to change the team culture,” said Bulls head coach Mike Roberts. “Kids are starting to buy into what we’re teaching and what we’re trying to achieve. I’ve got to give credit to them. They’ve done a great job of buying in and believing in what we can do.”

Junior pitcher Ally Power finished game one allowing one run and five hits, striking out five batters in her first game of the day. Power struggled early in the game, walking the bases loaded in back to back innings but didn’t allow a run.

“She’s had a few of those the past couple of weeks,” Roberts said. “If she struggles, she will struggle early. With a few walks in the first inning, we don’t want to see that obviously. She’s got to work it out a little bit, and we’ve talked about it at practice.”

Sophomore catcher Jessica Goldyn led off the bottom of the first with a home run to right centerfield, starting Buffalo off strong at the plate. The Bulls (13-17, 5-3 Mid-American Conference) followed up by scoring an additional five runs in the inning and scoring at least one in every other.

“I think once we started hitting the ball we clicked, and once we click we can’t stop,” Goldyn said.

The Bulls 3-4-5 hitters combined to go 9-11 with three home runs and 13 runs batted in for game one. Freshman infielder Anna Aguon and sophomore second baseman Jenelle Martinez both had four hits and five runs batted in.

“There’s times when our top half of the order got hot and they get to swing at good pitches,” Roberts said. “They can be devastating and today it showed. In that first game, they hit the ball really well.”

The Bulls had four errors in the second game. In the first inning, Akron scored off a throwing error by Goldyn and junior infielder Alissa Karjel. In the fourth, Akron (1-28-1, 0-7-0 MAC) tied the game after a pair of errors by Martinez.

“When Ally’s on the mound and she’s struggling a little bit, we expect our team to play defense behind her,” Roberts said. “I walked out there in the second inning and talked to the team about when Ally is struggling. We have to make plays in the field.”

Power pitched all seven innings for the Bulls and brought her record to 10-9 in the season. She allowed seven hits and four runs with only two being earned in the second game.

“You kind of accept it,” Power said. “It’s hard to not get upset about it, but thinking of the first game, they were there for me and I was trying to be there for them in the second.”

The season has been a drastic turnaround from last year for the Bulls, having gone 9-46 last season. Players have credited the change to Roberts, who looks to turn the once-struggling program around and lead the Bulls to one of the best seasons in recent years.

“[It was] definitely the most fun [season]. One of my better ones and I owe it a lot to coach Roberts,” Power said.

The Bulls play a three-game road series next against Central Michigan (14-15, 4-3 MAC), starting Friday and ending with a double-header on Saturday.

Nathaniel Mendelson is a staff writer and can be reached at sports@ubspectrum.com.

Comments


Popular









Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Spectrum