BRUNSWICK, Maine – The Bowdoin softball team swept visiting UMaine-Farmington in a pair of five inning games after falling in a close 5-4 NESCAC East battle with Tufts on Sunday afternoon.

The Polar Bears end the day at 23-11 and 8-4 in the conference regular season. The Jumbos (27-0, 9-0 NESCAC) leave Brunswick with a pair of wins after downing Bates in a neutral site contest earlier in the day. Bowdoin sent the Beavers home with a record of 4-16 after a 13-1 and 10-0 finish.

Game One Recap – Tufts 5, Bowdoin 4

After opening the game with two scoreless innings, the Jumbos put two on the board as Cassie Ruscz crushed a two-run shot to dead center. The Polar Bears responded in the bottom half of the inning, taking the lead, sparked by a two run RBI from Adriane Krul. Cielle Collins drove in Krul from second with a sacrifice fly to deep right field to give Bowdoin the 3-2 lead. Julia Geaumont pushed another run across the plate with an RBI single that drove in Marisa O'Toole who stood on second after a base hit and passed ball.

The Jumbos responded with two runs to tie the game in the fifth. Gracie Marshall tallied an RBI single to pull within one. Tufts then capitalized on a throwing error at the plate to even the score at 4-4. Senior pitcher Allyson Fournier came in to shut down the Bowdoin offense through the final three innings, tallying 11 strikeouts with one hit allowed. Tufts pushed the winning run across the plate in the top of the sixth off an RBI single from Michelle Cooprider.

Erica County started in the circle for Tufts and pitched three innings with six hits allowed and one K. Emily Griffin went all seven innings for Bowdoin tallying a pair of strikeouts in the process.

Game Two Recap – Bowdoin 13, UMaine-Farmington 1

The Beavers from Farmington put one run on the board in the first inning of the non-conference doubleheader, but were unable to push any more across as Griffin allowed eight hits with three strikeouts in five innings of work.

Shelby Bryant led off the day with a single to left field, which was followed quickly with another single from Meryl Bond to the same spot. Katie Clark moved the runners onto second and third with a groundout to the pitcher, allowing Natasha DeRoche to put the ball in play and have Bryant score. Bowdoin responded in the bottom half with Krul scoring on an error by the left fielder. Krul tagged a three-run homer in the bottom of the second to put the Polar Bears ahead 4-1, with two RBI singles from Lauren O'Shea and Siena Mitman in the third to make it 6-1.

Bowdoin put together a seven run fourth to essentially end the game. O'Toole wrapped an RBI double to center and Nicole Nelson drove in a run with a single to get the scoring started. Griffin laid down a bunt that Victoria Rusch beat to the plate, and Mitman added a two-run double to continue Bowdoin's scoring. Krul's sacrifice fly to center field drove in Griffin from third and Mitman eventually came around to score off a Collins single to right center.

Game Three Recap – Bowdoin 10, UMaine-Farmington 0

Geaumont was dominant in the circle for Bowdoin in game two of the doubleheader, fanning seven batters with no walks and only two hits allowed. The Polar Bears capitalized on Beaver misplays in the field to put four runs on the board in the opening inning. O'Shea drove in two of those Polar Bear runners with a bases clearing triple. 

Bowdoin put three more runs on the board in the bottom of the second to push the score 7-0. O'Toole drove in one run with a double and Geaumont tagged an RBI single to left. The Polar Bears put the game away in the fourth with three more runs scored.