EASTON, Pa. – Bucknell got the best of a pitcher's duel that opened Patriot League play late Friday afternoon. Bison pitcher Madison Roukey limited Lafayette to two hits in a 3-1 final.
Sophomore
Megan Coyle accounted for all of Lafayette's runs, blasting her second home run of the season, a solo shot off Roukey in the bottom of the seventh.
Bucknell put up the first run of the game on a sinking liner that was in and out of the glove of a diving
Mary Grace O'Neill in center field. That hit by Brooke Popella was the fourth of the game off Leopard starter
Kailee Sawai and scored Haley Speicher. Sawai got a ground out for the last out of the inning, stranding three Bucknell baserunners.
The Leopards came through in the middle innings. In the top of the fourth,
Maggie Klug made a barehand catch of pop-up bunt.
Kylene Gooch followed with a diving catch behind the pitcher and
Olivia Catalina ended the inning by corralling a liner in right field to keep Bucknell's lead at 1-0.
Catalina's two-out, stand-up double in the fifth inning broke up Roukey's no-hit bid.
Katie Harrington followed with a base on balls, but the inning ended with a
Paige Sandidge groundout and Bucknell's 1-0 lead intact.
The visitors added key insurance runs in the top of the seventh off Lafayette reliever
Morrigan Gardiner. Gardiner retired the first two batters, but a pair of singles and a wild pitch put runners on second and third. Pinch hitter Molly Lawson hit a ball in the hole to Coyle who snared it and fired across to first. The throw was late and a little low as two runs came across.
In the last of the seventh, Coyle connected for the Leopards' second hit of the day, smacking a "no-doubter" to left field with one out in the seventh. Roukey finished off the next two batters to end the game. She allowed one run on two hits over seven innings.
Sawai gave up one earned run on seven hits over five innings. Gardiner also allowed one earned on three hits in three innings with a pair of strikeouts.
Lafayette and Bucknell will not play on Saturday due to intense rain in the forecast, but will play a doubleheader on Sunday at noon.
