This weekend, Bucknell softball faced off against Lafayette on two separate occasions to bring their winning streak in Patriot League play to nine games. In the first game, they defeated the Leopards 2-1 and on Sunday afternoon they won 4-1.
Although the Bison eventually emerged victorious in their first game, the game went into extra innings despite the Orange and Blue getting so many people on base throughout. To start, the Bison let in one Lafayette run in the first inning, however, they quickly shut it down with a double play from Noelle Gardon ’24 to MaKenzie Hilling ’25.
The game remained relatively stagnant until the fourth inning when Savannah Jones ’25 scored a double off the left-field wall to drive in Brooke Popella ’27 to tie the score.
After a strong pitching start from Jones, Madison Roukey ’25 entered the game in the fifth inning and performed two straight 1-2-3 innings.
Heading into the extra innings tied 1-1, Zoie Smith ’24 got on base with a double and then advanced to third off of a Hilling hit. To bring it home Jones again produced an RBI off a single to right field, giving the Orange and Blue a 2-1 lead.
Despite getting a batter on base, Lafayette’s turn at bat was quickly finished off by Roukey, securing three straight outs.
In the second game of the series, both teams came out strong with a run scored in the first inning. For the Bison, Haley Speicher ’26 grabbed a run off of a single up the middle from Smith.
Heading into the third inning the Bison still had only scored once, but they were able to turn it around. Bella Radican ’25 ran home off of a single from Elena Horn ’25 and Hilling hit a fly ball to score home Speicher. Horn came close to tallying a fourth run but was thrown out at home at the end of the inning.
Just to seal the deal, the Bison scored once again in the sixth inning. Speicher hit a double, then advanced to third on a Horn single, and ran home off of Smith’s single.
Roukey continued to excel, finishing off the game with an impressive performance.
This was the first time in three years that the Bison have swept opening weekend for Patriot League play.
Softball is back on the field next Saturday, where they will host a triple header against Army.
