NAPLES, Fla. – Wednesday morning's contests against Olivet College and Bridgewater State University yielded a tale of two games for the Ladies softball team. After collecting just two hits in an 8-2 loss to Olivet, the Ladies bounced back against Bridgewater State with a few freshmen helping lead the way in a 6-2 victory.
 
GAME ONE
 
Things started well for the Ladies as Olivet's first two plate appearances resulted in outs. But the good start slipped away as Larissa Ludwick smacked a two-run bomb to left-center field giving the Comets an early 2-0 lead.
 
Olivet continued to increase their lead in the third. The first three batters reached base and Grubb and Ludwick followed with an RBI groundout and sacrifice fly, respectively, to push the lead to 4-0. One more run was tacked on after a fielding error by the Ladies.
 
The Comets held a 5-0 lead through three innings.
 
Offensively, Kenyon struggled against Grubb, the school's second all-time leading strikeouts leader. The Ladies didn't get a hit until the fourth when senior Jane Ghublikian singled up the middle. Ghublikian later got Kenyon on the scoreboard in the sixth with a two-run homer to center field.
 
Kenyon never manufactured anything significant besides the sixth frame.
 
Grubb struck out six Ladies in the process while inducing 10 flyouts and four groundouts.
 
GAME TWO
 
The bats were much more active for Kenyon against Bridgewater State as the Ladies took the lead in the bottom of the first.
 
First-year Amanda Ogata started the scoring for Kenyon with a run-scoring groundout that plated Madi Maldonado. Three batters later, Mari Colucci singled through the right side scoring Ghublikian.
 
After going scoreless through the first three innings, the Bears made things interesting in the fourth and fifth frames.
 
Bridgewater State got its first run in the fourth as a runner scored from third. During the play, the Ladies tried to record an out with a base-runner coming too far off the second-base bag which allowed Morgan Cox to score.
 
In the fifth, Kelly McCarthy sent a shot to center field which initially was ruled a three-run homer but the call was reversed to a ground-rule double. That tied the score at 2-2. In the next at-bat, Cox flied out to centerfielder Britny Patterson and the freshman threw out the runner from third ending the top of the fifth.
 
The Ladies quickly regained the lead in the home half of the inning. With runners on the corners and one out, freshman catcher Grace Pilz delivered an RBI groundout scoring Ghublikian. Colucci followed with a single through the right side extending Kenyon's lead to 4-2.
 
Bridgewater State never threatened again. Highlighting the Ladies' defensive efforts in the final couple innings included Pilz's pick off of a Bears base-runner.
 
In the circle, freshman Austen Whibley turned in a solid performance. She fanned a season-high six batters, didn't issue any walks and allowed her defense to work as they collected seven flyouts and a half-dozen groundouts.
 
Colucci led the Ladies' offense going 3-for-3 while Ghublikian went 2-for-3 and Ogata going 2-for-4.
 
Next up for Kenyon are two games tomorrow against Marian University and Drew University in Ft. Myers.