Maxwell, Meade and Kelly Lead Hawks to Split with BU on Saturday

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Hartford softball team dropped the first game of two against visiting Boston University, 4-1, but grabbed the 5-4 win in the nightcap on Saturday to snap a 10-game losing skid to its league rivals. With the split, Hartford (11-21) moves to 3-5 in America East play and BU (11-18-1) shifts to 2-3. The two squads will play the rubber match of their final three-game set on Sunday with first pitch scheduled to be thrown at 12 noon.

Melani Maxwell and Chelsey Mooney each hit 3-for-6 on the afternoon, with Maxwell driving in a pair of runs on a two-run shot early in game two. The Hawks led the entire way in the nightcap as pitcher Kaitlyn Meade picked up her third win of the season after tossing a complete game, allowing four runs on seven hits and striking out three in seven innings.

In the opening game, a scoreless outing was broken open in the fifth inning as Hartford and BU exchanged notches on the scoreboard in its respective at-bats to keep the contest tied heading into the sixth. In that frame, Kendra Meadows scored the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run, crossing home plate using a Brittany Clendenny single coupled with a Hawks' fielding error.

Hartford ace Zuzana Kudernatschova earned the game one start and compiled 10 strikeouts, allowing just two Terriers on the bases through the first four frames. She scattered four runs in seven innings, two earned, on 11 hits, but suffered the loss to fall to 6-10 on the season.

Scoring threats were made by the Hawks in the third and fourth, but two runners would be stranded in scoring position as Harford was unable to manufacture the first run of the game. In the bottom of the third, Erica Phelps became the first Hawk to reach base on Whitney Tuthill's watch, singling up the middle of the infield with two out and taking second on a wild pitch. The Hawks' centerfield would get no further as she was gunned down at third by the arm of BU catcher Amy Ekart in an attempt to swipe the bag.

In the following inning, Amber Andrews got as far as third base, but BU again silenced Hartford's threat. The Hawks' second baseman started the frame with a single to the middle of the outfield and after stealing second, she was pushed 60 feet away from the plate on a Jenice Aloyo groundout. The score would remain knotted at zero-all, however, as Kate Wacyk and Jackie Kelly, Hartford's clean up and fifth batter, were induced into a ground out and pop out, respectively, to end the inning.

The bottom of the BU line-up would be the first to light up the scoreboard in the fifth with Lauren Hynes and Mandy Fernandez connecting for back-to-back hits for the first time in the outing. Maggie Betz was almost there to rob Fernandez of the double in the left field corner, but the ball dropped before she could get under it, putting runners on second and third for the Terriers with just one out.

Kudernatschova struck out Emily Felbaum for out number two, but Jayme Mask came up with a timely hit, driving in her seventh run of the season with an infield single. Wacyk, the Hawks' shortstop, made a diving save to her right on the play, preventing Fernandez from scoring on the hit to keep it a one run game. Wacyk would go on to close out the inning on an infield popup by Chelsea Kehr.

Hartford provided a quick answer to BU's tally and tied things up at 1-1, scoring its first run of the game on a suicide squeeze. The designated player, Mooney led off the inning by smacking a single to left field. Peyton Fisher, who was inserted in to the lineup to pinch run for Mooney, then took second on a key sacrifice bunt from Sawyer Fried.

With that one out recorded, the Hawks snagged back-to-back infield singles off of Tuthill, the latter of which put their first run up on the board. Maxwell first beat out an infield hit to the Terriers' shortstop to make it runners on the corners, and Betz laid down a perfect bunt, scoring Fisher on the squeeze play to make it a new ball game at 1-1.

In the top half of the sixth, the Terriers used a Hartford fielding error coupled with some small ball of their own to regain the lead while adding an insurance run in the process. Megan Volpano singled to start off the inning, and her pinch runner Meadows would advance to second on a sacrifice bunt off the barrel of Ekart.

Meadows pushed BU back in front in the ensuing at-bat, grabbing third on a single to left field by Clendenny and reaching home on a fielding error by Betz. Clendenny, who reached third on her base hit, provided the Terriers' with a two-run advantage, scoring on a squeeze play from Roesch.

The Terriers extended their lead to 4-1, forcing the middle of the Hawks' lineup to make the run for a comeback bid. Hartford got two runners on base in Mooney and Maxwell using a pair of singles, but with the game-tying run at the plate, the Hawks were unable to tie up the game as Tuthill retired the final two Hawks to end the first outing.

Tuthill, who went on to work the first three innings in game two, allowed one run on seven hits, striking out three for the win. She suffered the loss in game two, conceded all five of Hartford's runs in that outing.

Melani Maxwell's first swing of the bat in game two erased an early one-run deficit and put her team ahead, 2-1, as she lofted one over the left field wall in the bottom of the second. The long bomb, her second of the season, also scored Fried, who reached base on an error in the previous at bat.

That lead would grow to 5-1 in the bottom half of the third with Kelly providing some separation by knocking in her 13th and 14th RBI of the year with a one-out double. Her hit, which brought home Aloyo and Andrews, also scored Wacyk as a result of a misplayed ball charged to BU's centerfielder.

Two innings later, BU came back into the ball game, though, as Clendenny sent a pitch over the right field wall with one out, plating Volcano and Ekart in the process to close its gap to one-run at 5-4.

Hartford's defense would clamp down in the final two frames as the Hawks held on for the one-run victory. Despite Felbarum starting the top of the sixth off with a single and reaching second on a no-out sacrifice bunt, the Hawks retired Kehr and Volpano on two-straight groundouts to prevent the game-tying run from scratching across home plate. The Hawks had no issues putting down the Terriers in their final at-bats. Ekart earned a lead-off walk off of Meade, but the next three BU batters were retired in order as Hartford grabbed its third win in four outings.

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