This weekend, the softball team headed to West Point, N.Y. to take on Army in a three-game series. Despite a strong effort by the Raiders, the team unfortunately came out of the weekend with three losses.

The first game of the weekend started off with two scoreless innings. In a big third inning for Army, the score quickly reached 5-0. In the following inning, Colgate started a small rally after Army had added one more run to the scoreboard.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth, sophomore shortstop Marisa Dowling hit a single through the left side. Dowling then advanced to second on an error, but was left stranded when Army got two quick outs.

With the score at 6-0, Army tallied three more runs in the following two innings to secure the 9-0 win in six innings.

The Army Black Knights were first on the scoreboard again in the second game of the day. After another scoreless first two innings, Army tallied one run in the third inning and three more in

the fourth.

As the game headed into the bottom of the fourth inning, Colgate was down 4-0. After a single to center field by senior outfielder Tera Vaughn, fellow outfielder first-year Tara Grennan grounded out to move

Vaughn to second. In the next at bat, senior third baseman Eileen Ornousky hit a single down the left field line to get on base and move Vaughn to third. Junior catcher Alyssa Chaulklin then got on base to load the bases, allowing first-year outfielder Katie Bushee to bring Vaughn home on a single in the next at bat. The run for the Raiders, however, stopped there as they could only muster the one run in the inning.

In the fifth inning, Army secured their 5-1 win with an insurance run that marked a sweep of the Raiders on that day.

The following day, the two teams hit the field yet again to play the last game of their three-game series. In the opening innings, both teams had hits but were unable to score until the fourth inning.

In the top of the fourth, the Black Knights finally opened up the game scoring two runs. The Raiders, however, had an opportunity to come back and rally in the bottom of the sixth.

With one out, Bushee and senior captain Haley Fleming hit back-to-back singles to get two runners on base. However, Army managed to get the remaining two outs to end any chances of scoring.

Fleming’s strong game saw her hit 2-for-3 and raise her average .241 on the season. Fleming’s average puts her fourth on the team, right behind Dowling’s .329, Bushee’s .316 and fellow senior outfielder

Jennifer Martin’s .268.

Army tallied three more runs in the top of the seventh to bring the final score to 5-0. The Raiders lost all three games of the weekend, but continue to see strong pitching from sophomores Brigit Ieuter and Megan Carnase. Ieuter currently has 4.03 ERA to lead the team while Carnase is just behind her with a 4.23. Also logging big innings for the Raiders is first-year Gillian Murray, who has appeared in 10 games so far.  This weekend the Raiders will travel to Lafayette to face the Leopards in two games this coming weekend.

Contact Jack Murray at [email protected].