Small-ball and defense were the difference in this weekend's softball games.
Unable to pull off a victory against Mid-American Conference foe Eastern Michigan, the softball team fell on Saturday 9-1. On Sunday, the Eagles (17-16, 6-2 MAC) completed the series sweep, winning 8-5 over the Bulls.
On Saturday, Buffalo (9-28, 1-5 MAC) was unable to match the scoring power of the Eagles.
Starting quickly, the Eagles hit a two-run home run to take the lead. Following the homer, the next two Eagles' hitters singled but the Bulls were able to get the next batter to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Junior outfielder Mary Russell got the Bulls right back into the game by hitting a long fly ball that sailed over the fence to lead off the bottom of the first. It was her second home run in as many games.
Junior right-hander Sophie Barstad could not keep the Eagles hitter in check and picked up the loss. She went four innings and allowed 13 hits and eight runs.
In the fourth, Eastern Michigan pulled away with a two-out rally that put up four more runs. By the end of the fifth inning, the Eagles led the Bulls by eight.
The Bulls only managed to rack up two hits and one run. Russell was the sole contributor on offense, going 2-3 on the day.
"Eastern Michigan is really talented and I wish we had a little bit of their mentality, but we're just a little young right now," said head softball coach Marie Curran.
Hoping to make up for Saturday's loss, the Bulls came out swinging the bat on Sunday.
"You could see that they calmed down at the plate," Curran said after Sunday's game. "A lot of girls who haven't gotten hits in a while did, so we're really excited."
Sophomore pitcher Margo Schramm started the game. After getting the lead-off batter to fly out to sophomore second baseman Marcy Hansen, she allowed a bloop single to fall into center field. A few batters later, with two outs, Eagles' right fielder Lindsay Shmid hit a hard line drive that sailed over the fence at Nan Harvey Memorial Field. Although the Bulls were held hitless the first three innings of play, they remained confident and optimistic.
"Today a lot of girls really stepped up mentally, which is something that we have been struggling with because we are so young," Curran said.
The Bulls pulled themselves back into the game in the third inning. After Russell opened it with a single, Bulls senior right fielder Lauren Picciano hit another single to put runners on first and second base. This was the first game back for Picciano, who had previously missed the last 23 games. Freshman center fielder Erin Zilka put the first run on the board for the Bulls by knocking in Russell.
The Bulls took the lead in the fourth inning to go up 4-3, but were unable to hold off the strong hitting Eagles. In the final two innings of play, the Eagles scored five runs to pull ahead 8-5.
They scored what would turn out to be the winning runs in the fourth, when the Bulls defense lapsed and made two errors. This gave the Eagles an extra chance to take the game.
The Bulls scored their final run in the fifth inning, and fell to the Eagles despite out-hitting them 13-9.
Schramm pitched 5 2/3 strong innings, yet at times was somewhat erratic, walking four and allowing five hits and six runs while taking the loss.
Coach Curran maintains that the team is on the verge of being the team she envisioned six years ago when the softball program was reinstated and she was chosen to rebuild a new team.
"If you look at all (Eastern Michigan's) starters in all their positions, almost every one of them is a year older than us," Curran said. Their coach and I talked a lot about that, we're just that little bit young right now where we're still figuring it out and trusting ourselves. We're real close."
Next week the Bulls travel to Akron for a doubleheader, which will start off a grueling ten game road trip.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
