The Colgate softball team went 3-1 against Bucknell in their first home weekend of Patriot League play. The Raiders split Saturday’s doubleheader with a 7-0 loss and a 3-2 win. The win came on an eighth-inning RBI hit by senior Natalie Siedhof. On Saturday, junior Haley Fleming led the Raiders behind the plate. Fleming went four-for-six throughout the two games. Junior Jennifer Martin also played well for the Raiders in Saturday’s doubleheader, going three-for-five with a homerun.

The Raiders really came together on Sunday to put forth two great performances, earning two wins with final scores of 4-2 and 8-5. In the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, first-year pitcher Brigit Ieuter went all seven innings. Ieuter gave up seven hits and two runs, while striking out four batters.

Bucknell jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after the first inning. Colgate cut the Bison advantage down to one run at 2-1 in the bottom of the second, when Martin doubled to left center, bringing senior Emmie Dolfi home.

During the Raiders next at-bat in the bottom of the third, Dolfi cracked one to deep center field for a momentum changing two-run homer, bringing Fleming home. Senior Alana Dyson led off the fifth inning with a single up the middle and then advanced to third

following an error.

The Raiders finished out their scoring in the bottom of the fifth when Dyson reached home on a ground out by first-year Mariel Schlaefer. The Bison were unable to recover in the remaining innings and the Raiders finished their first game on Sunday with a 4-2 win.

The Bison started off the second Sundaygame taking the 1-0 lead off a single through the left side. 

Bucknell added to their total in the top of the fourth with three runs, putting the Raiders down 4-0. Despite being down four runs, the team showed tremendous resilience as they answered with seven big runs in the bottom half of the inning to take the 7-4 lead.

The tremendous comeback was due largely to first-year Mariel Schlaefer. She hit her fifth home run of the season and first career grand slam, pushing the Raiders ahead. The grand slam put Schlaefer atop the team with five home runs and 19 RBIs, a notable feat for a first-year.

Junior Jennifer Martin earned a walk to start the next inning and Siedhof advanced her to second by singling to the left side. Next, junior Tera Vaughn was walked, which ultimately loaded the bases. Sophomore Kate Zucker then grounded out to second, running in Martin for the Raiders first tally of the inning.    

First-year Marisa Dowling hit a single after that, which allowed Siedhof to reach home. Dyson reached first on an error, scoring another Colgate run to pull the Raiders to within one at 4-3. Once again, Fleming loaded the bases after she hit a single to right field.

During the next at bat, Schlaefer delivered the finishing touches to the rally-inning with a bomb to center field that brought all three runners home. First-year Megan Carnase came in to relieve senior Courtney O’Connell in the top of the fifth and pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning for her second save of the year.  O’Connell went four innings, giving up seven hits and four runs.

“We had two great team wins [Sunday] with a lot of people contributing at key moments. It was nice to see our offense support our pitchers today and Mariel’s grand slam was definitely a highlight on the day. Every game is competitive in this conference and I’m really happy with how this team bounced back after our loss in the first game of the four-game series,” head coach Melissa Finley said.

The Raiders moved to 5-3 in Patriot League after their two wins on Sunday. The women look to improve their record next weekend when they travel to Holy Cross for another two-day doubleheader against the Crusaders.

Contact Catherine Lewis at

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