Softball Moves to 4-0 On The Season With Road Sweep Of Molloy

Rockville Centre, N.Y.-It was a long day's journey into night of softball on breezy and chilly Long Island Saturday that begin at 2:00 p.m. and ended nearly six hours later, but the University of Bridgeport will take it, as the Purple Knights swept an East Coast Conference doubleheader from the host Molloy College Lions, taking the opener, 9-6 in 13 innings, and winning game two, 4-0.  With the two victories, UB remains unbeaten in the early going of the 2021 season with a 4-0 mark both overall and in ECC play.  Molloy is now 8-6 overall on 0-4 in conference action.

In the opener, Bridgeport held a 4-0 lead after the top of the second inning, and the visitors led 6-4 after the top of the fifth only to see Molloy tie things at 6-6 with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.  The game would stayed knotted a 6-6 for six more innings until the Purple Knights plated 3-0 runs in the top of the thirteenth inning and blanked Molloy in the bottom of the frame to grab the win.

On offense in game one, seniors Kaira Ramon (Stamford, Conn.) and Samantha Ferreri (Hauppauge, N.Y.) each had three hits for the winners, and senior Elyssa Marmolejo (Rialto, Calif.), sophomore Meg McFarland (Monroe, Conn.) and freshman Hailey Kim (Virginia Beach, Va.), each contributed two hits.

Sophomore Taylor Yates (Elk Grove, Calf.) smacked her first home run of the season for the Purple Knights crushing a first inning, two-run blast.

Sophomore Kaite Burawski (Harley, Del.) worked eight innings of relief in the opener to earn the win, as she struck out a career-best 17 Molloy hitters and allowed only five hits, and one run (earned) with four walks.

Burawaski picked right up where she left off in game one, as she returned to the circle for the nightcap and proceeded to fire a four-hit complete game shutout (her second shutout of the season), in which she fanned six and allowed three walks.  Kaite is now 3-0 on the season with a microscopic 0.32 earned run average with 38 strikeouts in 22 innings pitched.

Limited to only four hits in game two, the UB offense took advantage of two Molloy errors to score their four runs, three of which were unearned.

Sophomore Samantha Schiebe (Monroe, Conn.) had two RBI in the nightcap.

Up next, the University of Bridgeport softball team will look to continue its hot start to the 2021 season when they travel to Buffalo, New York on Friday to face D' Youville College for the second time this season.  First pitch for the East Coast Conference doubleheader is set for 12 noon.