Colgate’s softball team had a busy weekend, playing three games at home against the Lafayette Leopards. After one game on Friday and two on Saturday, the Raiders ended the weekend with two losses and a win.

On Friday afternoon, the Raiders suffered a tough loss against the Leopards. Neither team made it onto the board until Lafayette scored in the top of the third. Though the bases were loaded, junior starting pitcher Kyle Griswold was able to hold the Leopards to just one run by leading a double play, making it 1-0. Though the Raiders managed to get runners on base throughout the game, they were not able to send anyone home. The Leopards were unsuccessful as well, with the score remaining 1-0, until the top of the fifth.

The Raiders showed weakness and the Leopards seized the opportunity, scoring seven runs in the fifth.

Colgate remained unsuccessful in the fifth, giving Lafayette an 8-0 victory, their first win against Colgate since 2014. Overall, Lafayette ended with a 9-4 hit advantage over Colgate. Two of Colgate’s hits came from senior Katie Bushee, who earned her ninth multi-hit game of the season. The other two hits came from first-year Jordan Miller and sophomore Meghan Romero.

Saturday morning, Colgate was given two more chances to make up for their Friday night loss to Lafayette. The doubleheader started out on a high note when the Raiders won the first game of the day 11-5. Senior pitcher Gillian Murray started off the game with three up, three down in the first inning. A two-run home run by first-year Nicole Rounsavill, as well as two doubles hit by sophomore Lauren La Terra and Miller, put the Raiders on the board with a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

Lafayette remained scoreless until the end of the fourth inning, when they picked up an unearned run. In the meantime, Colgate scored three runs in the second inning and another in the fourth. In the next two innings, the Leopards snagged three more runs, closing the gap and making the score 7-5. The Raiders responded quickly with six hits, including RBI singles from Murray, junior Holly Geranen and sophomore Baillie Jorth. By the end of the sixth inning, the Raiders were up 11-5. They kept this lead through the seventh inning. The Saturday morning victory marked Murray’s first win of the season.

Later that afternoon, the Raiders played the third game of the series against Lafayette, with Griswold taking the mound. The Leopards scored first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Colgate was unable to get on the board until the third inning, when Bushee hit a double and was able to get home after a Lafayette throwing error. The score stayed at 1-1 until Lafayette scored on a Colgate error in the top of the fourth. Following this run, neither team was able to get another runner home for the remainder of the game, and the Leopards walked away with the series win.

Despite the loss in the second game, both Murray and Griswold had great games, allowing only 14 hits total, while Colgate finished the day with 22 hits. Following this series, Colgate’s overall record moves to 9-22, and after their Saturday morning win, their Patriot League record stands at 1-8. Next up for the Raiders is a three-game series hosting Holy Cross from April 22-23.