BRISTOL, R.I. – U.S. Coast Guard Academy extended its winning streak to 24 games with a pair of wins over the Roger Williams University Softball team, defeating the Hawks by scores of 10-9 and 4-1.
In the first game, the Bears began the scoring in the top of the third with a huge inning. After fouling off a 3-0 pitch foul over the right field fence with Jeannie Crump (Roseville, Calif.) on second, Amanda Frederick (Lebanon, Ohio) straightened out the next one, hitting a homer to right to make it a 2-0 game. Later in the inning, the Bears took advantage of back-to-back errors to score its third run of the game. With the extra out, Coast Guard got an infield hit, a pair of bases-loaded walks, and a sacrifice fly to make it a 7-0 lead.
The Hawks would answer in the bottom of the fourth with runs by Hannah Pirez (Bolton, Mass.), Erica Castro (Medford, N.Y.), and Kerry Burke (Old Saybrook, Conn.) to pull within four. After the Bears added one in the top of the fifth, got two more runs in the bottom half of the frame to make it an 8-5 game.
Coast Guard plated two more runners in the sixth on RBI singles by Jamie Kim (Irvine, Calif.) and Becky Miller (Norco, Calif.) to increase the lead to five. Yet the Hawks continued to rally, putting four runs on the board in the bottom half of the inning, three of which came off of a bases-clearing double by Burke. The rally would end there, with the Hawks going down in order in their last at-bat to give the Bears the close win.
Nicole Black (Stafford, Va.) picked up the win, allowing five runs (four earned) in four innings of work. Hayley Feindel (River Ridge, La.) earned the save, pitching three innings of relief while giving up four runs. Frederick finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run, while Miller had two hits, two runs, and two RBI.
Alexandra Sera (Newton, Mass.) suffered the loss, touched for seven runs (two earned) in 2.1 innings of work. Burke's final line matched Frederick's with two hits, three RBI and a run in four at-bats, with Sarah Grill (Watervliet, N.Y.) going 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.
The Bears opened up the second game with two runs in the first off of Frederick's RBI single and Courtney Wolf (Fredericksburg, Va.) coming in from third on a passed ball. Those two runs would be all that Feindel would need. After getting the nod in the second game, Feindel had the Hawks' number for most of the game, allowing only two hits over the first two innings before RWU was able to get to her in the fourth.
Samantha Teves (Somerset, Mass.) doubled in Burke from first in the inning to bring the Hawks within one. That would be as close as RWU would get from there on, with the Bears adding two more insurance runs in each of the sixth and seventh innings to hold on for the win.
Feindel earned her 23rd win of the season, going the distance with 13 strikeouts against five hits and a walk. Colleen Denny (Clarence, City, N.Y.) went 2-for-2 with an RBI, while Crump was 1-for-2 with two runs scored.
Jaclyn Doolin (Miller Place, N.Y.) allowed four runs (three earned) in the loss on seven hits and a walk. Burke finished 2-for-3 with a run, with Teves adding a hit and an RBI.
Roger Williams (18-14) will host Nichols College Sunday at 5:00 p.m., while Coast Guard (28-2) will be at MIT Friday at 3:30 p.m.
