BLOOMFIELD, N.J. – The USciences softball team held 5-4 leads entering the sixth inning of both games of its doubleheader at Bloomfield on Saturday, only to fall 6-5 in eight innings and 9-7.
Gabrielle Simms, Abbigail Markee and Gabriella Polera all had multiple hits in both games, with Polera driving in six runs and Markee scoring three.
Simms ended the afternoon sixth in program history with 128 career hits.
Game One
University of the Sciences was one out away from a 5-4 win, but a wild pitch on a strikeout led to the tying run scoring from third.
Olivia Quercia stranded two runners to send the game to extras where with the international tiebreaker in effect, the Devils went down in order.
Bloomfield then came through with a two-out single in the bottom-half for the win.
Querica allowed just one earned run on two hits in her 3.1 innings of relief. She came on to strand two runners with one out in the fifth before working a 1-2-3 sixth.
Three Devils had multiple hits, with Simms reaching base three times as she also walked, Polera driving in three runs on two doubles, and Markee scoring twice.
Both teams plated two in the first as Simms and Markee led off the afternoon with a walk and single, respectively, before coming around to score on Polera's two-RBI double with two outs.
USciences' three-run third nearly produced the game-winning runs after Simms led off with a single. An error followed, advancing runners to second and third, and Taylor Hamm's two-RBI single gave the Devils the lead back.
Polera then followed with her second RBI double of game one for the 5-2 advantage.
Bloomfield responded with two runs in the bottom-half, and the game remained scoreless until the seventh despite both teams advancing runners into scoring position twice, including the top of the sixth ending on a play at the plate.
Game Two
University of the Sciences erased one four-run deficit and nearly erased a second.
Trailing 9-5 entering its final at-bat, the Devils had the tying run reach base after Markee got things started with a one-out single.
The second out was recorded, but back-to-back RBI base-hits by Hamm (double) and Polera (single) brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Jones, who drew a walk.
Bloomfield was able to get the final out though, inducing a game-ending groundout.
Five different Devils (Simms, Markee, Hamm, Polera and Jones) had two hits in the nightcap, with Jones also walking and Polera driving in three for the second consecutive game.
Trailing 4-0 after a four-run fourth, University of the Sciences broke out for six hits in a five-run fifth, beginning with Jones' leadoff single.
Sabrina Kaffl followed with a single and after Miranda Rodriguez's sacrifice bunt, Lauren Del Giudice's walk loaded the bases.
Three consecutive singles by Simms, Markee and Ashley Steiner each scored a run and after the second out was recorded, Polera's two-RBI single gave the Devils the lead.
Megan Master worked a scoreless bottom-half but USciences would strand a runner in the sixth, and back-to-back extra-base hits to lead off the bottom-half quickly tied the score.
Two more doubles made the score 8-5 before a wild pitch closed out the five-run frame.
Up Next
University of the Sciences completes a three-doubleheader road-trip at East Stroudsburg on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
