UNION, N.J. — The Bowdoin College softball team started the 2020 season with a doubleheader split at Kean University, falling 2-0 before rebounding with a 7-3 victory.
The Polar Bears are 1-1 on the young season. The game two setback was the first of the year for Kean (9-1).
Kate Hoadley pitched a strong game for Bowdoin, but the Polar Bears failed to find their rhythm at the plate. Hoadley allowed just three hits and one earned run, striking out one batter and walking three.
Allison Rutz and Angelina Mayers both doubled in the game, while Karlye Pallotta had a stolen base.
Kean scored a run in both the first and second innings on a fielder’s choice and error.
In the second contest, Bowdoin found its footing at the plate, scoring in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead. Katryna Dukehart had her first collegiate RBI with a double to center that plated Angelina May.
Kean evened the game in the bottom of the third, but Bowdoin took the lead for good in the top of the fourth. Andrea Dorsa tagged a bases-loaded single through the left side to make it 2-1. Former Brunswick High School standout Shea Sullivan made a statement with her first career hit, launching a grand slam home run over the fence.
Dukehart added a solo shot in the seventh.
A pair of RBI singles in the bottom half of the inning was all Kean mustered.
Ruby Siltanen earned the win in the circle, allowing eight hits while fanning five. Dukehart went 3-for-4 with two RBIs.
The Polar Bears travel to NESCAC West rival Williams for a pair of games on Wednesday.
Baseball
Bowdoin suffered its first loss of the season in a 14-7 batters duel at Amherst on Monday afternoon.
The Polar Bears are 2-1 on the year, while the Mammoths opened the season at 1-0.
Bowdoin scored in the top of the first on Brendan O’Neil‘s RBI single to left, but the Mammoths responded in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run homer.
Matt Nakamoto tied the game in the second with a solo home run.
The game got away from the Polar Bears in the second and third as Amherst scored nine total runs.
After scoreless innings for both sides, O’Neil hit a solo home run in the sixth. With runners on first and third, a fielding error later in the inning plated another run.
In the bottom of the sixth, Amherst scored three more runs, taking a 14-4 lead.
The Polar Bears rallied in the final two innings. Gabe Peckler had an RBI groundout, Owen Gideon-Murphy tagged an RBI double, and Bobby Pearl tagged an RBI single.
Six pitchers saw action for the Polar Bears. Peter O’Connell had the start, going 2 1/3 innings, while allowing six hits and nine runs. Beckett Slayton pitched 1 2/3 innings and allowed three hits and a pair of runs. Both pitchers had three strikeouts. James Speer, Peter Mansfield, Luke Chessie, and Michael Weber all pitched one inning.
The Polar Bears totaled 14 hits as a team, led by Stephen Simoes (2-for-4), Pearl (2-for-2), and O’Neil (3-for-5). O’Neil was the only player with multiple RBIs.
Bowdoin plays against St. Michael’s on Tuesday in Northboro, Massachusetts.
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