Softball Sweeps Alliance To Grab Number Four Seed In 2023 CACC Championship Tournament

Staten Island, N.Y.-The University of Bridgeport softball team grabbed the number four seed and a home doubleheader in this weekend's CACC Championship Tournament Opening Round by sweeping a road doubleheader over Alliance University on Wednesday, as UB won game one, 5-3, and then snapped a 1-1 tie with six runs in the top of the seventh inning to take the nightcap, 7-1.  With the sweep, Bridgeport heads into the postseason at 28-21 overall and 16-8 in its first year in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.  Alliance wraps up its season at 5-37 overall and 3-21 in conference play.

In the opener, the Purple Knights trailed 3-0 after three innings, but UB came back to earn the 5-3 win.

Senior Meg McFarland (Monroe, Conn.) drove in the team's first run with a ground out in the fourth, and then junior Angela Oros (Yuma, Ariz.), who had two hits in game one, tied the contest at 3-3 with a 2-RBI double in the fifth.

RBI doubles from sophomore Madison D'Amato (Warwick, R.I) and graduate student Gabby Simms (Phoenixville, Pa.) in the sixth then gave Bridgeport a 5-3 lead when freshman pitcher Vise Zarate (Cypress, Calif.) made standup as she fired a complete game to raise her season record to 18-8.

Simms was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate in the opener.

In game two, sophomore Kalea Faulk (Corning, N.Y.) gave the Purple Knights a 1-0 in the fourth inning with a solo home run, her fourth round-tripper of the year, but Alliance tied things at 1-1 scoring on a UB error in the fifth.

Bridgeport took the lead back in the top of the seventh on an RBI-double by senior Taylor Yates (Elk Grove, Calif.) and then a two-RBI triple by pitcher Samantha Schiebe (Monroe, Conn.) and a two-out, two-RBI double by Kalea Faulk to give her two hits and three runs batted in the nightcap.  Faulk would later score the team final run on a fielders' choice with a runner thrown out at second.

Schiebe was outstanding in the pitching circle in game two to even her season record at 9-9 allowing just an unearned run over seven innings of work on only three hits with four strikeouts.

Up next, the UB softball team will begin play in the 2023 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Championship Tournament as the number four seed, and the Purple Knights are now scheduled to host the number five seeded, Felician University Golden Falcons on Saturday in the tournament's opening round.  UB will need one win in a scheduled doubleheader to move onto to the double-elimination portion of the championship that will be hosted by Georgian Court University beginning on Thursday, May 4.