By Terrence Hinds, Staff Writer

Published in print Apr. 1, 2015

The Softball team experienced another tough series this past weekend. The team lost three in a row to the Samford Bulldogs at the UNCG Softball Stadium.

The Blue and Gold really proved to be no match for the opposition this weekend.

UNCG looked to be overmatched from the very first pitch of game one. The Bulldogs seemed to come in with a ton a confidence which showed in each of the three games this weekend.

Samford’s offense opened the series strong, as the team posted eight runs in the first three innings of game one. It was a quick and sharp blow to the confidence of the Spartans.

Junior Megan Dowdy led the assault for the Bulldogs.

An outstanding day at the plate, Dowdy went a perfect 4 for 4 at the plate with four RBI’s and two home runs.

Coming into this game, she had only had one career home run. Redshirt junior Mollie Hanson stepped up huge for the Bulldogs. She was able to get her second shutout of the season in a complete game effort improving her record to 12-6.

Spartan junior Nicole Thomas took the loss falling to 2-6 on the season. The Blue and Gold simply could not get anything going offensively.

The pitching proved to be too strong for their hitters to overcome in game one.

Due to the Spartan’s ineffectiveness on offense with collegiate softball’s rules of mercy which state a contest will end if one team is ahead by eight runs, the game was  ended in the fifth inning.

The Spartans showed a lot more fight in game two of the doubleheader on Saturday.

Though the Blue and Gold were able to rally back from an early 3-0 deficit to tie the game at 3-3 in the fourth inning, unfortunately, the Bulldogs answered with two runs of their own to win the game.

One run for Samford was scored in the fifth and the last was in the seventh. Hanson of Samford threw another complete game going the full seven innings and allowing just three runs off of eight hits.

Freshman pitcher Alicia Bazonski took the loss for UNCG, falling to 6-5 on the season. She also threw a complete game, allowing five runs off of 10 hits. After the Bulldogs went up 3-0, UNCG senior Dominique Madruga hit her second home run of the season to cut Samford’s lead 3-1. Then in the fourth inning, the Spartans were able to add two more runs.

Sophomore Tory Wright worked a walk and Geiner reached on a bunt single. Sophomore Hagan Kiser pinch-hit and reached off a infield single to get on first base, loading the bases. Freshman Gabrielle Cubbage lined a two-run single to center field tying the game at 3-3. They did a great job manufacturing runs in this inning due to the team’s timely hitting.

The Bulldogs regained the lead in the fifth inning after a RBI single from Brister to make it 4-3 Samford.

With two outs in the seventh, Samford scored its fifth run off a RBI single from Bice to go ahead 5-3. That turned out to be the nail in the coffin for the Blue and Gold because they simply could not respond after that.

Game three of the series was a flat out blow out. The Spartans lost the game 11-3. Hanson threw her third straight complete game for the Bulldogs, completely confusing the Spartans at the plate.

After going up 2-0 in the first inning, the Spartans quickly responded with two runs off of three hits in the bottom of the first.

To add to their score, the home team piled up another run in the third inning after an RBI single from Geiner. Yet, this would be the last run for UNCG as the game was effectively over in the fifth inning when Samford put up six runs in the inning. The Bulldogs would put up three more runs later on as well to push their score to 11.

The loss means that UNCG is now 0-6 in conference play.

It will be an uphill battle for this team the rest of the season. They will begin their attempt to end their losing streak this weekend in a two-day series against conference opponent, Western Carolina, here at the UNCG Softball Stadium.

Friday’s doubleheader begins Friday at 1pm and the second game is expected to start at 3pm. Saturday’s finale is at 1pm.