By Lindsay Regruto

Staff Writer

With a six-hit shutout, Bridget Gates ’13 led the women’s softball team to a win on Sunday’s Senior Day against Lafayette to give Head Coach Heather Rakosik her 200th career victory. The Bison ended the series against the Leopards 1-3.

Allowing no more than one hit in any inning, Gates successfully held off the Leopards in game two of the double header on Sunday for a 1-0 win. The sole Bison run of the game came in the second inning. Kathryn Wilkinson ’13 reached base and advanced into scoring position off a double by Mary Horton ’13. Jessie Snyder ’11 later brought Wilkinson home with a hard-driven single. Snyder ended the game going a solid three for three at the plate.

Before the night’s win, the Orange and Blue suffered a 5-4 loss to open the series against Lafayette. The Leopards were the first to clear the goose egg off the board, plating two runs in the first three innings. The Bison evened up the score when Lauren Fry ’11 was brought home with a homerun by Alison Ford ’11. It was her fourth home run of the season and 14th of her career, and she currently leads all current Bison in home runs. The teams went back and forth as both put up a run in the fourth. Lafayette pulled ahead in the fifth, bringing in two runs. The Bison answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the sixth but could not bring another around, resulting in a close loss to the Leopards.

The series continued on Monday as the Bison suffered a 3-0 loss in the first game of the day. Neither put a run on the board by the fourth inning, but Lafayette scored one run in the beginning of the fifth. It looked close as the Bison defense gained two outs, but the Leopards would score two more runs before the third out. The Orange and Blue were unable to score in the sixth but also prevented Lafayette from posting any more runs. The offense could not rally, dropping the game to Lafayette in the top of the seventh.

The Orange and Blue ended the series with 5-2 loss to the Leopards in game two of the day. Lafayette brought one run around in the third to take a small lead over the Bison. The Orange and Blue responded with RBIs by Fry and Ford to take the lead over Lafayette in the sixth. The Bison defense was unable to hold off the Leopards, though, allowing four runs in the bottom of the sixth. The team was unable to rally in the seventh, resulting in a Leopards’ win.

Ford finished with three RBIs in the series to give her a total of 96 career RBIs and tie her for second in program history.

The Orange and Blue finish Patriot League play this weekend at West Point against Army.