The Colgate softball team stayed at home this weekend and played three games against the Holy Cross Crusaders.  Unfortunately, the Raiders ended their second weekend in a row with two losses, but were able to take the win in the second game of the series.

The Raiders began the series on Saturday at noon. Junior Kyle Griswold pitched a tough game, but ultimately, Holy Cross snagged a 3-2 win. Holy Cross made it onto the board shortly into the top of the first, but by the end of the first inning the Raiders were up 2-1. First-year Virginia Irby made it on base due to an error, stole second, and then was brought home following a homerun by junior Holly Geranen. The next run of the game didn’t come until the top of the third when Holy Cross took advantage of several Colgate errors and scored twice. The scoreboard read 3-2 Holy Cross at the end of the third and stayed this way for the remainder of the game. 

Later in the day on Saturday, the Raiders walked back on the field with starting pitcher senior Gillian Murray, and Colgate got on the board first this time around. Senior Katie Bushee and Irby both singled and stole second, and with Geranen’s second homerun of the day, all three made it home. By the end of the first, the Raiders were leading 3-0. The Raiders continued scoring in the third inning with an RBI from Geranen, her sixth of the day and from first-year Jordan Miller, bringing the Raider lead up to 5-0. 

Murray kept the Crusaders to few hits in the first few innings, but a homerun early in the fourth put Holy Cross on the board. The lone run scored by the Crusaders was the only one scored for the remainder of the seven innings.  

Colgate didn’t score again until the bottom of the fifth when first-year Sabrina Odierno and Grennan had hits. Sophomore Baillie Jorth hit a homerun, bringing herself and the other two home to make the score 8-1. Murray finished out the game, not allowing any more runs, and the

Raiders were able to secure the win.

“Gillian did a great job of mixing zones and speeds to hold them to five hits. I thought our defensive game backed her up well. It was a solid team win. Holly had another great day at the plate for us, but it was nice to see a lot of other people step up as well,” head coach Melissa Finley said.

Sunday morning, the Raiders were not quite as successful. The Crusaders were the first on the board, with a homer in the third inning. Their 1-0 lead grew to a 3-0 lead during the fifth inning, as the Raiders were unable to gain any runs. Colgate finally made it on the scoreboard at the end of the seventh, when Bushee was walked with bases loaded, and Grennan was pushed home. Unfortunately, this didn’t do it for the Raiders, and Holy Cross snagged the 3-1 win and an overall 2-1 win in the series.

This weekend’s games bring the Raiders record to 11-24-1 overall, with a 2-10 record in the Patriot League. Next, the Raiders will hit the road this weekend for a three-game series against Boston University, which will be their second-to-last series before they enter the Patriot League Tournament on May 11.