Clutch Hitting Lifts UB Softball To A 7-3 Win Over Molloy To Open 2022 ECC Championship Tournament

Fairfield, Conn.-The University of Bridgeport softball team used clutch hitting and a solid start from junior Kaite Burawski (Hartly, Del.) to pick up a 7-3 win over the Molloy College Lions on Wednesday afternoon and advance to the winners' bracket of the 2022 East Coast Conference Championship Tournament.  Bridgeport plated five runs in the fourth inning, as the Purple Knights batted around, and UB scored six of their seven runs in the game with two outs.  Burawski raised her season record to 23-6, as she fired a completed game in which she allowed five hits over seven innings; striking out 10 with only one walk.  Kaite has now fanned double-digit batters in 17 outings so far in 2022.

With the victory, the second-seeded Purple Knights are now 34-14 overall.  The third-seeded Lions see their season mark fall to 22-32.

Wednesday's game was played a Pioneer Park on the campus of Sacred Heart University,

UB opened the scoring on Wednesday in the bottom of the first on and RBI-single by sophomore Kiana Robinson (Hamden, Conn.), who had two hits and three runs batted in on the day.

The Purple Knights increased their lead to 2-0 in the second on a run-scoring single to center by junior Meg McFarland (Monroe, Conn.) and then put the game away with the five-run fourth on an RBI-single by freshman Madison D'Amato (Warwick, R.I.), who had two hits in the game, a two-RBI single by senior Kaira Ramon (Stamford, Conn.) and a booming double to center by Robinson that plated a pair of teammates.

UB's Missy Daigneault (Rensselear, N.Y.) also had two hits for the winners on Wednesday.

Molloy got a two RBI-double from Amanda King in the sixth inning, and a solo home run to left by Karyson Eaton, her fourth big fly of the year, in the seventh for their three runs scored.

King (12-15) took the loss as the starting pitcher for the Lions, as she allowed five runs (three earned) over 3.2 innings pitched.

Up next, the 2022 ECC Softball Championship moves to the campus of St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, New York for action on Friday and Saturday.  Bridgeport will face number one-seed STAC at 10:00 a.m. on Friday in the winner's bracket, as the Spartans defeated fourth-seeded Mercy College, 3-2, on Wednesday.  Molloy will take on Mercy at 12:30 p.m. that same day in an elimination game.