BLUEFIELD, Va. – Softball brought out the big bats on the road Tuesday afternoon at Bluefield as the Bears (201-14, 14-8 MSC) combined for 25 runs over the two games in a sweep over Bluefield. SSU took the opener 11-2 before Allie Chapman took some of the headlines away from the offense with her second no-hitter of the season during a 14-0 shutout during the second game. Both ends of Tuesday's doubleheader were called with the run-rule in effect after the fifth inning.
The Bears started out game one with three straight hits. Ericka Leighty led off with a double and Kelsey Jenkins would drive her in with an RBI single. Kirsti Yates would then deliver a two-run blast over the left field wall to make it 3-0 after the first three hitters. A walk to the next batter and singles by Hannah Dittoe and Brytan Givens would make it 4-0 after the first.
SSU would add on four more in the second. The inning started with what should have been three straight outs, but the a strikeout with one down reached on a passed ball to extend the inning. Walks to Yates and Holly Brabson followed by an Abbey Barrett hit-by-pitch loaded the bases before Hannah Dittoe would drive home two. Tara Prater would drive home another two more two-out runs in the next at-bat, making it 8-0 after two innings.
More control problems for Bluefield in the third would eventually help the Bears score three more in that inning. After two walks to start the inning, the first run would score on a one-out error. With two outs, Prater would then drive home two more with an RBI single to make it 11-0 after two and a half innings. After Ali Thompson set down the first six Bluefield hitters that she faced, the Rams would string together two singles with one out that were moved into scoring position with two down before a two-out two-RBI single made it 11-2 after three.
Thompson allowed just one more hit the rest of the game as the Bears hung out by that 11-2 margin. The Bears' starter would end up going five innings and allowing just four hits and the two earned runs while in the circle during her complete game. She would also strike out five while walking none for the victory. She needed just 59 pitches to complete the game in five innings.
The Bears would also jump on Bluefield early in game two with three runs in the opening inning with a sacrifice fly from Yates, single from Brabson and a single from Givens scoring the three runs. After a perfect first inning of work, the Rams only base runner of the game came in the second inning with a leadoff hit-by-pitch. However, Chapman would get the next three hitters before the Bears exploded for nine runs in the third inning.
Four of the first six batters in the Bears' third would double while the others reached on an error and singled. The Bears would double two more times in the third to go along with three singles and walk. They would eventually total nine runs on those nine hits with the help of two Ram errors and led 12-0 after the third.
SSU would add a run in the fourth and fifth to make the final 14-0, but the rest of the game would truly belong to Chapman. She would retire 15 of the 16 batters that she faced in the second game. The lone batter that would reach was the hit-by-pitch in the second inning with the count at 2-1. She needed just 52 pitches for her second no-hitter of the season and finished the game with five strikeouts and seven groundouts of her 15 retired batters.
The Bears will be back at home this Thursday to host Bluefield in what has been changed to a 3 p.m. start. SSU will then close out the regular season at home with a doubleheader against Cumberland on Saturday.
