After managing just four runs in four games last weekend, the softball team plated nine runs in a doubleheader sweep of the University of Rhode Island (4-26) on Wednesday, snapping a four-game losing streak and improving its record to 6-11-1 (0-4 Ivy).
Coming home after dropping doubleheaders at Harvard and Dartmouth, the Bears looked much sharper both at the plate and on the mound. The offense strung together some clutch hits and took advantage of the Rams' defensive lapses, and starters and co-captains Uchenna Omokaro '05 and Marissa Berkes '05 each gave up only one run en route to two complete games.
The first game started as a pitchers' duel between Omokaro and Rams starter Jill Anderson. The game was scoreless until the fifth, when the Bears scored all three of their runs. Melissa Ota '07 led off the inning with a walk, and after a sacrifice bunt by Liz Anderson '07, Ota took second and third after she realized that no one was covering the bag. The aggressive baserunning would pay off as she scored on a high fly to short right field from Rachel Fleitell '06 that landed safely in front of the Rams' right fielder after she appeared to lose it in the sun. After stealing second, Fleitell came around to score on a Mary Seid '06 single. Jaimie Wirkowski '06 would drive in Seid with a single of her own.
The Rams managed one run in the top of the sixth, but Omokaro, who scattered five hits and two walks, settled down and earned her fourth win of the season. After the game, she credited the Bears' offense for her victory.
"All of us stood out as a team today as far as putting hits together," she said. "This was definitely a team effort."
In the second game, the Bears scored six runs on only three hits thanks to the wildness of the Rams' pitchers. URI starter Jaime Hughes and reliever Katie Halcomb walked 10 batters and gave up six runs, three earned, in just four innings. Catcher Cheryl Barnes was thrown for a loop by their wildness, allowing three run-scoring passed balls.
Fleitell led off the game with a walk and would come around to score on Barnes' first passed ball. Ota opened the second inning with a free pass as well and scored on a sacrifice fly to center from Seid. The Bears scored one more run that inning after Berkes came home on another passed ball.
The Bears broke the game open with three runs in the fifth, plating runners after a passed ball, a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly.
Berkes flirted with a shutout until the fifth inning, when two walks and an error loaded the bases. After a run scored on an infield single, the right-hander got some help when shortstop Seid ran down a flare to short left field to end the inning. After Berkes shut down the Rams in the sixth inning, the game was called for darkness, and she picked up her second win of the season. Berkes was quick to credit her defense for the victory.
"I felt really good about my defense," she said. "It's so much easier to pitch a game when you know there's a good defense behind you."
Berkes also gave credit to her offense, which scored more runs on Wednesday than it had in its last five games.
"We got our bats going," she said. "It's been something that's been missing in the past few games."
Head Coach Pam McCreesh said she was pleased with her team's performance in the doubleheader.
"It's always good to go out and win two games," she said. "They've been working hard all season, and it paid off today."
This weekend, the Bears play two doubleheaders in the Empire State. Brown travels to Cornell on Saturday in a matchup of last year's regular season Ivy League champions and faces Columbia in New York City on Sunday.
