Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Santa Clara, Calif. (March 1, 2022)—Mount St. Mary's dropped a pair of hard-fought pitcher's duels to Santa Clara on Tuesday afternoon.  The Mount fell in the opening game, 1-0, and then saw Santa Clara score three times in the bottom of the sixth inning for a 3-0 win in game two.

GAME 1:  SANTA CLARA 1, MOUNT ST. MARY'S 0

The Mountaineers were on the wrong side of a 1-0 pitcher's duel in the opening game of the doubleheader.  Santa Clara's Sara Hager tossed a three-hit shutout for the Broncos to outduel the Mount's Amanda Berkley, who allowed the lone run in five innings of work.

The Mountaineers threatened in the top of the second when Tori Bowles doubled with one out.  Hager was able to escape the jam by getting Elizabeth King on a lineout and Mariah Godde on a fly ball to center field.

The Broncos broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth.  Emma Bickford led off the inning with a double and Sammy Needham followed with a bunt single to put runners on the corners with no outs.  Morgan Salmon's fielder's choice to short brought home Bickford with the lone run of the game. 

The Mount (2-9) had the tying run on second in the fifth and seventh innings, but was unable to score.  In the fifth, King drew a walk and pinch runner Julia Vincent moved to second on a sacrifice.  Hager got a pair of fly outs to end the inning.  Bowles had a one-out single up the middle in the seventh.  King grounded out to first to move pinch runner Maggie Kane to second with two outs, but a foul out to catcher was the final out.

Bowles went 2-for-3 at the plate ion the game while Abigayle Perry also had a base hit.  Berkley allowed six hits and one earned run in five innings of work while Olivia Murphy pitched a scoreless sixth inning of relief.   

GAME 1:  SANTA CLARA 3, MOUNT ST. MARY'S 0

Santa Clara (10-9) scored three times in the bottom of the sixth inning to snap a scoreless tie en route to a 2-0 win in game two.  The Mont's Avery Neuhart allowed just the three runs in a complete-game effort for the Mountaineers.

The Mount threatened early when Bridgette Gilliano doubled with one out in the top of the first and then stole third base.  Gilliano was stranded at third as Santa Clara got a foul out and a fly out to escape the early trouble.  Neuhart escaped a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the second when she got a grounder to second to end the inning.

The Mount had runners on first and second in both the third and fourth innings, but could not get the big hit needed to plate the go-ahead run. In the top of the sixth, Daisy Gardner singled and Maggie Kane walked to put runners on first and second with two outs, but pinch-hitter Kassidy Johnson was retired on a pop-out to end the inning.

The Broncos then scored three times in the bottom of the sixth to earn the win.  Sammy Needham tripled to bring home the first run of the game, and Morgan Salmon singled to score Needham for a 2-0 lead.  Cameron McGinnis added an RBI single for the final run of the inning.

Abigayle Perry was hit by a pitch with one out in the seventh, but Santa Clara pitcher Regan Dias retired the final two batters to complete the shutout.

The Mountaineers return to action this weekend with a three-game series against Howard.  The Mount will host the Bison for a doubleheader on Saturday, March 5, at 12:00 p.m. for the home opener.  The two teams will play a single game at Howard on Sunday, March 6.