Softball Splits Pair of Games to Open Spring Break Trip

By Jim Fenton

LITTLE RIVER, S.C. -- Angelina Lynch (Taunton, Mass.) provided the Bridgewater State University softball team with its first victory of 2025 in dramatic fashion.

The win also marked the first for interim head coach and BSU Hall of Famer Angela Vecchione.

Lynch broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh inning with an inside-the-park three-run home run, giving the Bears a 5-3 victory over Dickinson College of Carlisle, Pa., Sunday afternoon.

BSU had dropped the season-opener in the morning as it was held to just one hit in a 6-0 loss to Delaware Valley University of Doylestown, Pa.

The Bears entered the final inning trailing Dickinson, 2-1, but erupted for four runs to overtake the Red Devils and earn a doubleheader split on the first day of the spring break trip.

Game Two: Bridgewater State 5, Dickinson 3

The Bears' seventh-inning rally began with one out as sophomore Makayla Ansell (Menifee, Calif.) tripled to left field. Graduate student Janet Jolly (Raynham, Mass.) bunted her home and reached on a fielder's choice, then advanced on an error.

Sophomore Sydney Schaefer (Swarthmore, Pa.)  walked and Lynch hit the home run down the line in left field for three runs to break the tie.

Dickinson had taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth when junior Jane Lloyd (Yardley, Pa.) was hit by a pitch, was sacrificed to second by junior Abby Kohan (Arlington, Va.) and scored on a two-out double to center by Lauren Routzahn (Frederick, Md.).

The Red Devils moved in front, 2-0, in the fifth.

Sophomore Lily Hartley (Richmond, Va.) walked and moved to third on an error and scored on Lloyd's sacrifice fly.

BSU had scoring opportunities early in the game as junior Victoria Becker (Abington, Mass.) tripled in the second and senior Amelia Blake (Raynham, Mass.) reached on a bunt with one out, but they were stranded.

In the fifth, Isabel Bishop (Lynn, Mass.) tripled to right but a fielder's choice resulted in the runner being thrown out at home.

The Bears got on the scoreboard in the sixth when Lynch singled through the left side with one out, was sacrificed to second by Becker and stole third.

Senior Riley Fitzgerald (Swansea, Mass.) singled up the middle to deliver BSU's first run.

Dickinson scored a run in the bottom of the seventh as junior Grace Melchionno (Newton, Mass.), then with two outs, junior Jessie Sandusky (Mahwah, N.J.) and Lloyd singled to load the bases.

An infield error scored the third run of the game for the Red Devils, but an infield popout ended the game with the bases loaded.

Winning pitcher McKayla Cusack (West Haven, Conn.) gave up five hits and struck out three.

Kohan gave up nine hits and three runs in 6 1/3 innings for the Red Devils.

Lynch, Blake, Ansell and Becker had two hits each for BSU, which held an 11-5 edge in hits.

Game One: Delaware Valley 6, Bridgewater State 0

Ansell and senior Emily Marcotte (North Dighton, Mass.) accounted for the lone two hits for the Bears in the season-opening loss to the Aggies.

Ansell doubled to right-center with one out in the top of the third inning, but a line drive by the next batter resulted in an inning-ending double play.

Marcotte reached on a bunt single in the top of the sixth.

The Bears had runners at second and third in the first when Schaefer and Lynch reached on errors, but Delaware Valley managed to prevent them from scoring.

The Aggies took a 3-0 lead in the third inning, scoring with two outs, against losing pitcher Olivia Hargreaves (Weare, N.H.).

Sophomore Jillian Collins (Selbyville, Del.) and senior Sierra Ripka (Souderton, Pa.) reached on infield hits and a double to left by junior Kenzie Boyd (Lurgan, Pa.) brought in the game's first run. A triple by junior Angelina Bresnen (Morrisville, Pa.) to left gave Delaware Valley the three-run lead.

The Aggies did not score again until getting three more runs in the sixth.

A single up the middle by junior Madison Donnelly (Marlton, N.J.) scored junior Tori Bockrath (Collegeville, Pa.) for a 4-0 lead.

Sophomore Madison Karns (New Windsor, Md.) doubled to right-center for the second run of the inning  and a single through the left side by senior Yasmine Gonzalez (Philadelphia, Pa.) brought in the game's final run.

Winning pitcher Karns struck out nine and did not walk a batter.

Hargreaves, a sophomore, went 5 1/3 innings, giving up six runs and eight hits with six strikeouts, while junior Olyvia Mendonca (Taunton, Mass.) got the final two outs.

The Bears play another doubleheader on Monday.

BSU meets Kings College of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. at 1 p.m. in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., and faces Penn College of Williamsport, Pa., at 5 p.m. in Little River, S.C.