Purple Knights Advance In NCAA Regional Softball Play With An 8-7 Extra Innings Victory Over Molloy

Manchester, N.H.-There has long been a saying about postseason play in all sports, and that is "Survive and Advance", and that is exactly what the University of Bridgeport softball team did late on Wednesday, as the number-six seeded Purple Knights eliminated the fourth-seeded Molloy College Lions with an 8-7 victory in eight innings at the 2021 NCAA Division II East Regional in Manchester, N.H. hosted by St. Anselm College.  Three of the five games played between the two teams went to extra innings this season.  Bridgeport moves on to play an undetermined opponent on Friday at 1:30 p.m. in another elimination tilt with a 23-8 record, and Molloy finishes its season at 29-16.

Friday's win is also the second NCAA triumph in program history for Bridgeport, to go along with a 2-1 victory over Bloomsburg in 1989.  UB has appeared in the NCAAs in 1988, 1989, 2019 and this season.

Wednesday's game was a see-saw affair that saw three ties and five lead changes.

The Lions, playing as the home team, opened the scoring bottom of the second when Grace Rende launched a two-run homer off UB starter Kaite Burawski (So., Hartley, Del.) to give her team a quick 2-0 advantage.

UB would score the next four runs to grab a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth, when senior Samantha Ferreri (Hauppauge, N.Y.) had an RBI single in the third, and classmates Sarah Silver (Vernon, Conn.) and Kaira Ramon (Stamford, Conn.), drove in one and two runs respectively.

Molloy would storm back to take a 6-4 lead in the bottom of the fourth on and RBI-single by Katie Hand, and a three-run homer by pitcher Courtney Greene that hit the top of the fence in left field and bounced over.

Bridgeport would then benefit from three Molloy errors to score three runs in the top of sixth to once again take the lead in the game at 7-6. Samantha Ferreri also had a key RBI-ground out in the frame.

Molloy would come right back to tie the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI-triple by Amanda King down the right field line, and that's how the score remained heading into bonus softball.

In the top of the eight with one out, Kaira Ramon drew a one-out walk and moved to second on a single by sophomore Taylor Yates (Elk Grove, Calif.), her second hit of the game.  Ramon would advance to third on a long fly out by Ferreri, and she would then score the winning run when sophomore Samantha Schiebe (Monroe, Conn.) lined a single off the Molloy pitcher.

UB senior Miranda Hillman (Placentia, Calif.) earned the win in the pitching circle in Wednesday's second game with 3.1 innings of stellar relief.  Hillman, who had not seen game action since May 4, raised her season record to 5-4, as she allowed just one run on three hits with two strikeouts and one walk.

Molloy's workhorse Courtney Greene (19-9) was the tough-luck loser for the Lions, pitching all eight innings in which she allowed 11 hits, eight runs (only three earned) with four strikeouts and three walks.

Senior Elyssa Marmolejo (Rialto, Calf.) and freshman Kiana Robinson (Hamden, Conn.) also had two hits apiece for the winners.