The Bulls softball team took full advantage of sunny skies and warm temperatures over the beautiful days of this past weekend, fitting in games against two Mid-American Conference rivals Northern Illinois and Western Michigan.
The Bulls (3-37, 1-11 MAC) opened the weekend on Friday with a double-header against Northern Illinois (7-7, 18-21 MAC).
In the first contest of the afternoon, both the Huskies and Bulls brought their bats, as each team tallied 10 hits in the game. However, Northern Illinois scored nine runs off those 10 hits, while the Bulls managed only four, falling by a score of 9-4.
Junior shortstop Marcy Hansen led the Bulls with three hits and a run scored. Sophomore first baseman Dana Carter added two RBI's in the bottom of the fourth inning to go along with her two hits on the day.
Buffalo fell behind early and never battled out of that hole. The Huskies opened the game with two runs in the first inning and five more in the top of the fourth to make it 7-1.
The two RBI double by Carter in the fourth inning brought the Bulls to within four runs. However, Buffalo would only add one more run the rest of the way, eventually falling by five runs.
Friday's second game was highlighted by a dominant pitching performance from Northern Illinois' Taryn Hagemann, who went six innings, allowing just one hit and one run as the Huskies completely shut down Buffalo by a score of 10-1. Bulls' freshman right fielder Samantha Gaetano picked up the lone hit and run scored for Buffalo to go along with her two stolen bases.
Saturday afternoon the Bulls hoped to turn things around against another MAC foe in Western Michigan (8-6, 16-17 MAC). For a good portion of Saturday's game, it seemed the Bulls would do just that.
A four-run fourth inning got Buffalo on the board first. Carter doubled with the bases loaded, bringing around three runs. After a throwing error on the play put Carter on third base, a wild pitch to the next batter brought Carter around to extend the Bulls' lead to 4-0.
Western Michigan struck back with three runs in the fourth inning and another in the sixth. The score was tied in extra innings before the Broncos blew the game open in the top of the eighth inning.
The Broncos began the frame with two singles and a passed ball, which brought around one run and left the bases loaded. A double and a throwing error helped push across four more runs to extend the Western Michigan lead to 9-4, in route to their victory by the same score.
Sunday afternoon the Bulls and Broncos battled for a second time with Western Michigan once again putting up nine runs to defeat the Bulls 9-2.
Bulls' junior pitcher Margo Schramm was unable to get out of the second inning, allowing the Broncos first four batters to reach base without a hit. Two walks and two hits by pitches ended Schramms day in the second inning and gave way to freshman pitcher Sharon Barr.
But, things did not improve for the Bulls following the pitching change. The first batter Barr faced tagged a grand slam to extend the Western Michigan lead to 6-0.
Sophomore catcher Erin Zilka displayed a little power of her own in the bottom of the second inning. After Carter walked, Zilka added a home run to bring Buffalo within four. However, those two runs would be all the offense the Bulls would get in the game as the Buffalo fell by seven runs.
The Bulls will next battle local rival Canisius on Thursday afternoon at Nan Harvey Field. Canisius and Buffalo split their two games last season, with each team winning by just one run.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
