WORCESTER, Mass. – The Colgate softball team used a full team effort to earn a 5-1 win at Holy Cross Sunday and complete the Raiders' first series sweep of the Crusaders since 2009.
Colgate put up two runs in the third and three in the seventh en route to the victory. Senior
Holly Geranen and junior
Meghan Romero tallied two hits apiece to lead the Raider bats. First-year pitcher
Bella Crow shined once again to earn her second victory of the weekend, while sophomore
Jessica Hay collected a save in her strong relief appearance.
After a pair of scoreless frames to open the game, the Raiders got on the board in the top of the third. Romero led off the inning with a double to right center before Geranen followed suit with a double to right to plate Colgate's first run. After a sacrifice bunt from first-year
Mia Guevarra that moved Geranen to third, sophomore
Jordan Miller came through with an RBI single up the middle to put Colgate's lead at 2-0.
Crow allowed just one hit through the first three frames. The Crusaders put a pair of runners on in both the fourth and the fifth, but Crow got out of both jams to keep Colgate in front 2-0.
Holy Cross finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth as the Crusaders used three hits to plate one run and cut the Raider advantage to 2-1.
Colgate answered right back in the top of the seventh as sophomore
Virginia Irby smoked a leadoff double before Romero followed with an RBI base hit to make it 3-1. Junior
Pami White then came through with a clutch two-out, two-run double to pad Colgate's lead to 5-1.
Hay took to the circle with one out in the sixth inning and kept the Crusaders off the board the rest of the way to secure Colgate's series sweep with the 5-1 victory.
BOTTOM LINE
WON-LOST RECORDS
- Colgate improves to 6-9 in Patriot League play and 11-28 on the season. With the series sweep, the Raiders jumped over Holy Cross in the league standings and into fifth place. Colgate is still within striking distance of a Patriot League Tournament berth.
- The Crusaders drop to 4-11 against league foes and 11-30 overall.
KEY RAIDER INFO
- The Raiders completed their first series sweep of Holy Cross since 2009.
- It's Colgate's first sweep of a Patriot League series since April 30-May 1, 2015 when the Raiders swept Lafayette.
- Crow finished with a line of one earned run on five hits with three strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work. She collected her second win of the weekend and team-leading fifth win of the season.
- Hay limited the Crusaders to just two hits in the final 1.2 innings to collect her first save of the season.
- Crow and Hay were phenomenal throughout the series, allowing just two Holy Cross runs in 21.0 innings of play.
- Romero was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
- Geranen hit 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored.
- Seven different Raiders tallied hits in the full-team effort.
UP NEXT
- Colgate will head to Syracuse Wednesday for a 5 p.m. doubleheader before wrapping up the regular season against Boston University at Eaton Street Field next weekend.
