BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Fairfield University softball team split a doubleheader on the opening day of a three-game series with Niagara University, falling in the opener but responding with an 8-3 win in the second game.
Allie Bridgman picked up five hits and drove home four runs over the two games with Niagara.
Charli Warren also had a solid day at the plate, picking up a hit in both ends of the doubleheader and three hits overall.
In the second game, the Stags took advantage of a pair of Purple Eagle errors to grab a 2-0 lead in their first at-bat of the game.
Charli Warren opened the game with a base hit and followed with a stolen base to reach scoring position.
Allie Bridgman's grounder was misplayed which allowed Warren to come home with the game's first run. Bridgman took third base on a throwing error and crossed home plate off
Anna Paravati's fielder's choice.
Lindsay Mayo led off the Niagara first inning with a home run to cut the lead in half. Fairfield gained that run back in the top of the second courtesy of
Martina Gutierrez's RBI double which plated
Danica Silvestri who earned first base when she was hit by a pitch.
The Stags tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning as Warren and
Morgan Sylvestre scored off Bridgman's two-run double, pushing the score to 5-1. Niagara quickly regained those runs in its half of the fifth inning when Samantha Hare drove a two-run double that cut the deficit to 5-3.
Fairfield put the game out of reach with three runs in the top of the sixth with Bridgman providing the key hit, a two-run single that sent Gutierrez and Silvestri home to bring the score 7-3.
Delaney Whieldon closed out the scoring with a run-scoring double that produced the final margin.
Chela Kovar tossed the complete game by scattering five hits and striking out four batters to earn her second win of the season.
The Stags fell behind in game one when Niagara scored the first 11 runs of the game including seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Fairfield posted all five of its runs in the top of the fifth inning, the first coming off Whieldon's RBI double. Gutierrez was responsible for the second run with an infield single to the right side, followed by Warren's RBI fielder's choice. Sylvestre brought home the final two runs of the game when she launched a two-run homer that also brought Warren around the bases.
Fairfield closes out the three-game set with a single game on Sunday afternoon. The Stags and the Purple Eagles will play the contest at the University of Buffalo's Nan Harvey Field. Fairfield's next home game will be a single contest against Yale University on Wednesday beginning at 3 pm.
