Softball Victory

First-year pitcher Kristen Finn (Winthrop, Mass.) won her fourth game of the week, first-year Monica Berube (Plaistow, N.H.) hit a two-run home run and the Bates College softball team took advantage of seven Bowdoin errors en route to an 8-1 NESCAC East Division victory on Friday.

The Bobcats raised their NESCAC East record to 4-3 and are 7-10 overall with their fifth win in the past six games. The Polar Bears dropped to 15-11 overall and 1-3 in NESCAC East play.

Finn (4-5) scattered eight hits and four walks while striking out three in earning her fourth straight win. Karen Reni (3-4) accepted the loss in a complete-game effort, allowing eight runs (five earned) on seven hits and two walks.

The Polar Bears put a run up in the second for an early lead, as Clare Ronan hit her fifth home run of the season with a leadoff shot to left.

Bates came back with five runs on five hits in the bottom of the second, beginning with Berube's second homer of the season, a two-run shot to left. Seniors Leah Citrin (Rye Brook, N.Y.) and Val Beckwith (Woburn, Mass.) followed with a single and a double, respectively, and Jean McIntyre drove Citrin in with an RBI single. First-year Lauren Dobish (Chambersburg, Pa.)  followed with a two-run double to left, scoring Beckwith and McIntyre.

Bates added three more in the fifth inning. Three Bowdoin errors led to two scores, and Berube capitalized with an RBI double to finish the scoring.

Berube finished 2-for-3 with a double, a homer and three RBIs, and was the lone Bobcat to have multiple hits, as Bates collected seven in total. Ronan had three of Bowdoin's eight hits, while Shavonne Lord and Hillary Smyth had two apiece.

The Bates College softball team celebrates an 8-1 NESCAC East Division victory against rival Bowdoin.