Goldey-Beacom softball's epic losing streat reaches 17 games
The Goldey-Beacom College softball team's epic losing streak reached 17 games when the Lightning were swept by Bloomsburg University in a doubleheader in the Keystone State Wednesday afternoon.
Led by a pair of dominating pitching efforts from senior Cait Paine (Lebanon H.S./Lebanon, Pa.) and junior Mandi Black (Northwest Area H.S./Huntington Mills, Pa.), Bloomsburg University (22-10) swept a non-conference doubleheader over Goldey-Beacom College (9-27) at the Huskies' Hutchinson Field on Wednesday afternoon.
After Paine threw the third no-hitter of her college career for a 2-0 victory in the first game, Black limited the Lightning to just one hit en route to a 4-0 win in the nightcap.
In the first game, the Huskies took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when sophomore Erika Yanora (Tunkhannock H.S./Tunkhannock, Pa.) scored on a single by junior outfielder Hannah Moir (Lenape H.S./Mount Laurel, N.J.) and a fielding error by freshman rightfielder Taylor Ewing (North Dorchester H.S./Hurlock, Md.).
Black upped the Huskies' lead to 2-0 when she led off the bottom of the fourth inning with her third home run of the season to left field.
The Lightning, who were no hit for the fifth time in the program's Division II history, only had two batters reach base as a result of Bloomsburg errors. In the second inning, junior third baseman Ashley Zaccaria (Gloucester City H.S./Gloucester City, N.J.) reached on a throwing error to lead off the inning before she was involved in a double play.
Zaccaria also reached base on an error by Paine in the top of the fifth inning, but stranded on first base as Paine recovered to strike out the next three Goldey-Beacom batters.
Paine, who also became the Huskies' career strikeouts leader in the first game, recorded 13 strikeouts in the victory while not allowing a walk.
Freshman Lea Rehm (Bloomsburg H.S./Bloomsburg, Pa.) gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning in the second game with an RBI single to right center field. An infield single by Moir in the bottom of the third inning extended the advantage to 2-0.
Moir, who had four hits in the doubleheader, added a two-run single to center field in the bottom of the fifth inning to increase the margin to 4-0.
With two outs in the top of the seventh inning, sophomore outfielder Alexa Houston (Sussex Central H.S./Georgetown, Del.) ended Black's no-hit bid with a single down the left field line and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. But, Black recovered to strike out junior Courtney Dolson (Gloucester H.S./Gloucester, N.J.) to end the threat and secure the victory.
In earning her third win of the season, Black posted a season-high 12 strikeouts while allowing four walks. She also recorded the first shutout of her college career.
Senior Ashley Antosh (Twin Valley H.S./Honey Brook, Pa.) allowed just one earned run on five hits in the first game while recording four strikeouts. Meanwhile, Dolson had four strikeouts in the second game for the Lightning.
After playing their last six games on the road, the Lightning will return home on Friday afternoon to open a six-game homestand against Chestnut Hill College in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader at 2 p.m. Meanwhile, Bloomsburg will open a six-game road trip on Thursday at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.