BOSTON – Kayla Martin provided an early spark with a three-run blast, but third-seeded Army responded with six unanswered runs to defeat second-seeded Colgate, 6-3, in the opening round of the Patriot League tournament on Thursday at BU Softball Stadium.
COACH LAMISON-MYERS' COMMENTS
"Of course this isn't the way we wanted to open up, but I thought our pitching did what it needed to do and our bats will wake up tomorrow. This team has so much fight left in them so we are preparing for a long day tomorrow."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Martin gave the Raiders (27-25) a dream start in the bottom of the first. After Nora Megenity reached on an error and Marina Taveras worked a walk, Martin roped an opposite-field, three-run homer to right – her 11th long ball of the season – to stake Colgate to a 3-0 lead.
In the circle, Kelcie McGraw was dominant early, tossing three scoreless frames and racking up strikeouts to end the first and second innings. However, the Black Knights broke through in the fourth, using three hits and a costly defensive miscue to pull even, 3-3.
Army took the lead for good with a two-run sixth and padded the cushion with a solo homer in the seventh. Refusing to go quietly, Colgate brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh following a Lily Haluska single and a Martin walk. Army reliever Breanna Izzo escaped the jam, however, inducing a game-ending strikeout to secure the win.
McGraw struck out eight over 5 1/3 innings, allowing five runs (three earned) in the loss. Maya Servedio threw 1 2/3 innings of one-run relief to close out the contest.
UP NEXT
Colgate moves into the consolation bracket to face fourth-seeded Lafayette in an elimination game on Friday at 1:30 p.m. The winner will advance to play the loser of the 11 a.m. matchup between Boston University and Army.
