WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross softball team earned an 8-5 win over Brown on Senior Day Wednesday evening at Freshman Field.
Four different Crusaders had multi-hit games on the day.
Erin Bengston was 2-for-2 with one double, one walk, and three RBI.
Alyssa Gutierrez was 2-for-3 with one double and one run.
Bailey Chavez and
Jessie Nagel were each also 2-for-3 with one run scored, while Nagel also picked up one RBI and one walk.
Jess Mott hit her first collegiate home run to really open the game up after a slow start offensively for both teams. She had three RBI on the day as well as one walk.
Five pitchers saw action in the circle for the Crusaders.
Megan Yurchick got the start and went two scoreless innings while striking out three.
Peyton Morehouse would pick up the win on the day thanks to her three innings of hitless action.
Audrey Gusel and
Mel Leach each pitched one inning, and
Hannah Horton faced two batters in the seventh in her first collegiate appearance in the circle.
HC 8, Brown 5
Yurchick started the game out strong with two backwards Ks to start off the first inning. She would give up three hits in her two innings of work, but no Bears crossed the plate.
Morehouse picked up where Yurchick left off as she pitched three innings without giving up a hit and striking out two. She earned the win because after Bengston singled in the bottom of the third to drive home
Bailey Bates, the Crusaders never looked back.
Holy Cross added to its lead in the fifth when Bengston sent a sac fly to left to bring home the second run of the game, and Mott followed with a three-run home run to bring the score to 5-0.
Brown got on the board in the fifth with a home run of its own, to close the gap to three. But in the sixth, Gutierrez led the inning off with a double and would score on a Bates single to center. Another run scored on a Nagel single and the third of the inning came home on Bengston's double.
Despite the Bears adding two more in the top of the seventh, the Crusaders held on for the 8-5 victory as Leach earned the first save of her collegiate career.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:
- Chavez is now 5-for-7 in the last two games bringing her average up to .263 on the year.
- Gutierrez's double was her second of the year and the senior is hitting .333 through four starts and seven games played.
- The victory was Morehouse's first of her collegiate career.
- The eight runs scored are the most in a game this season and the 11 hits are the second most.
- The three-person senior class of Horton, Gutierrez, and Bella Jankowski was honored prior to the start of the game.
ON DECK:
The Crusaders will head to Lafayette for a four-game series this weekend. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. on both Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 18.
