Bison softball kicked off their season Feb. 15-17, posting a 1-4 record at the Campbell Invitational. The Bison defeated the host school, Campbell, for their only win of the weekend and dropped matchups to Morehead State and Northern Kentucky.

During the first tournament of her senior season, Meghan Kovac ’18 set the program record for most career runs batted in (RBI). The previous record holder, Lauren Litts ’07, totaled 107 RBI’s from 2004-2007. During the fourth game of the Campbell Invitational, Kovac broke that record and now has 108 career RBI’s.

“I am really excited for this year and what we are going to be able to do and I can’t wait to finish my Bucknell career with this amazing group!” Kovac said.

The Orange and Blue defeated Campbell 7-3 during the first game of the tournament. Raeanne Geffert ’20 pitched all seven innings, striking out six and allowing no walks. Taylor Wolfgang ’21 led off in the top of the third inning with a double down the right line, while Ryanne Rokos ’19 scored a run off of a single from Lauren Hadley ’19. Kovac led the fourth inning with a double, followed by another double and RBI by Anna Gimmestad ’19. Kovac and Wolfgang had four of the Bison’s 10 hits.

Kovac hit her 13th career home run during game two against Campbell, putting her in fifth place on the program’s home run totals list. Marisa Alemany ’20 had two singles and Hadley had one. Lauren Lichtenwalner ’20 made her season debut, striking out two batters and only walking one, but the Orange and Blue dropped the contest 1-3.

“Even though our record does not seem to show this, some really great things happened this weekend. Our pitchers fought hard, our defense played great and the spark for hitting will come” Kovac said.

On the second day of competition, the Bison lost 0-1 in an eight-inning game against Morehead State. Geffert, along with a solid Bison defense, didn’t allow an earned run the whole game. Mariano had the only hit for the Orange and Blue, a single in the second inning.

Kovac went a perfect four-for-four with a home run, a double and two singles in the fourth game of the tournament against Northern Kentucky. Hadley contributed two singles, and Paulina Gutkin ’18 had a triple. Geffert pitched four innings, striking out four batters; she has not walked a batter in 26.2 innings.

The Bison dropped their final game of the tournament to Morehead State 1-3. Pinch runner Jess Hom ’21 scored the only run for the Orange and Blue off of Kovac’s fielder’s choice RBI. Lichtenwalner struck out three batters, while Taylor Langtry ’18 pitched a solid game in her first outing since an injury in her freshman campaign.

“We are focusing on the process of improving our performance and although the results didn’t end up the way we would have liked, we had strong offensive and defensive innings for our first weekend of play,” Gutkin said.

The Orange and Blue will next compete in the Seahawk Softball Classic from Feb. 23-25 in Wilmington, N.C.