The Bowdoin Orient

April 6, 2001
Volume CXXXII, Number 20

6-4 start heats up Bowdoin softball

by COLLEEN MATHEWS, STAFF WRITER

   While most Bowdoin students were enjoying their first free Saturday of Spring Break, the softball team was up early to catch their flight to Florida. Tri-Captains Megan Wardrop '01, Gina Laugelli '02, and Kristie Miller '02 led the team through ten games and flew home to Brunswick with six wins.
   It was at this time when Mother Nature decided that she was not quite ready for softball season, or spring for that matter, and sent New England a fresh layer of winter snow and slush. The Polar Bears are 6-4, but they are also 10-8-1: Ten games played, eight postponed, and one game cancelled.
   The Bears arrived in Florida on Saturday, and by Sunday night, they possessed a 1-1 record. Gina Laugelli '02 struck out nine batters in five innings, while teammates Jordan Alper '03, Katie Sheridan '02, and Hillary Smith '04 led the offensive attack against Lasell College. Bowdoin emerged with an impressive 11-1 victory.
   In the second game of the day, Plymouth State turned four Bowdoin errors into four runs. Erin Hanley '04 struck out six batters in the first four innings, but was replaced by Jessie Poulin '02 in the fifth after giving up four unearned runs.
   Two days later, the team lost to both Augsburg and Amherst. Augsburg began the day with two runs, but the Bears evened the score in the fourth inning. The next inning decided Bowdoin's fate, when three Augs crossed home in the fifth. Bowdoin scored only one more run and the game ended with a 6-3 defeat.
   That evening, Amherst handed the Bears their second defeat of the day. Amherst scored its winning run in the third and added two for insurance in the sixth. Bowdoin fell with a score of 0-3.
   Bowdoin asserted their skills of Day Three of Play when they defeated Babson 6-0 and Wesleyan 6-1. Against Babson, Erin Hanley earned her first collegiate win with six strike-outs, while Kristie Miller '01 added two RBIs and Emily Rizza '02 and Jessie Mayol '02 each contributed two hits. Gina Laugelli struck out five Wesleyan players and eight of nine Bowdoin players had a hit in the Wesleyan game. Miller added three more RBIs to her tally.
   The next teams to challenge Bowdoin were Bethel and Smith. Bethel asserted its presence in the first inning of the day when they earned eight runs from Bowdoin pitcher Jessie Poulin. Gina Laugelli replaced Poulin and shut Bethel out of the next six innings. Bear bats cut the lead to two by the sixth inning.
   With two outs and one run in the seventh, Jessie Mayol was standing on second base. Hillary Smith hit a double to left field, but in a controversial call, the umpire called Mayol out at home and Bethel walked off the field with an 8-7 victory. Smith finished with three hits, while Kristie Miller, Katie Sheridan, and Liz Swedock '01 each added two hits.
   In Game Two, Bowdoin bounced back to defeat Smith 1-0. Erin Hanley pitched her second-straight shut out and sent eight Smith batters back to the bench. Kristie Miller began the fourth inning with a double and earned the only run of the game off Jessie Mayol's single.
   The Polar Bears finished their week in Florida with two victories over Mt. Holyoke and Aurora. During the first six innings against Mt. Holyoke, the score remained at zero. In the seventh, Emily Rizza belted out a single and sent Megan Wardrop home to score the winning run Gina Laugelli struck out six batters and allowed only three singles. Bowdoin continued its win streak when it defeated Aurora 7-4 in the last game of the trip.
   The Bears scored four runs in the first four innings, but their lead was soon threatened. Aurora stole in three runs from Erin Henley in the fifth and another from Jessie Poulin in the seventh to tie the game. However, Bowdoin dashed Aurora's dream of victory when Jordan Alper belted out a two-run double.
   With a record of 6-4, the Bowdoin Softball team headed home to Brunswick. During the second week of Break, they were supposed to continue their success. Instead, Mother Nature halted all outside play. Games against the University of New England (2), Plymouth State (2), University of Southern Maine (2), and the University of Maine-Farmington (2) were postponed, while the April 3 Amherst game was cancelled.
   As for the predictions for the rest of the season, Miller is not worried.
   "Our talented batteries and solid defense are among our greatest strengths. If we keep the bats moving like we did throughout the first part of the season, things should come nicely. It is rumored that softballs teams near and far fear the wrath of the Bowdoin ball bashers. And I am here to tell you-it is a mighty, mighty wrath!! Sometimes we scare ourselves!"

Polar Bear Softball. A force to be reckoned with.
(File Photo/Bowdoin Orient)