YORK, PA – The York College Spartan softball squad split their doubleheader Monday with Bridgewater College at Spartan Stadium in York. The Eagles captured game one, 1-0 in nine innings, before the Green and White posted a 4-2 win in game two.

The Spartans are now 24-10 overall while the Eagles stand at 24-6 after the split.

Game one was a pitcher's dual from the start as York's Brittany Therres (Hughesville, Md./Thomas Stone) and Bridgewater's Ashley Gills engaged in a gem.

The Eagles reached base with singles in the first, second, fourth, and fifth innings while they reached on an error in the third.  Therres stranded all five runners as she kept the Spartans in the game.

York had a chance to win the bottom of the seventh as they had runners at second and third with two outs but Gills got out of the jam with a fly out to left.

Neither team was able to score in the eighth despite using the tiebreaker. The Eagles got on the board in the ninth as Caity Butler doubled right over centerfielder Caitlin Keppler (Owings, Md./Northern) scoring Kaitlyn Bowman with the game's only run. Therres minimized the damage as she did not allow another run, giving the Spartan offense an opportunity to force a 10th inning.

The Green and White got the game-tying run to third with one out but failed in their two shots to get the runner home as they fell via shutout for the third straight game.

Gills improved to 10-2 with the win as she allowed three hits with six strikeouts and a walk in her nine innings of work. Therres suffered the hard-luck loss as she deserved a better fate. She allowed one unearned run on seven hits with five strikeouts and no walks as she falls to 12-5.
Mallory Sandridge and Butler paced the Eagles with two hits each. Butler had the Eagles' lone RBI while she also had Bridgewater's lone extra base hit.

Kelly Smith (Riverdale, Md./St. Vincent Pallotti) and Kristen Gray (Mickleton, N.J./Kingsway Regional) each had doubles for the Spartans while Keppler picked up York's other hit.

Game two proved to be much kinder to the Spartans. The Green and White broke out of an offensive slump that saw them go scoreless over 24 innings with a three-run second inning outburst. The frame started with a Gray single to left. After a sacrifice bunt by Keppler moved Gray to second, Meghan Boyer (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) laced a double to left center, scoring Gray with the Spartans' first run. After an Eagle error allowed Boyer to score, the Spartans got the third run of the frame on a Meghan Van Meter (Hanover, Md./Archbishop Spalding) RBI single to center.

York got another run in the third though it could have been more. York began the inning with a Heather Bormann (Brick, N.J./Brick Memorial) single to left. After pitcher Sam Koehl (Frederick, Md./Gov. Thomas Johnson) walked, Bormann and Koehl each moved up on a passed ball. Gray singled home Bormann with York's fourth run. Bridgewater relief pitcher Becky Schmidt got a pair of strikeouts and a ground out to extricate herself from further damage as the Spartans left runners on the corners to end the inning.

The Eagles got a pair of runs in the sixth inning but that was just a small bump in the road for Koehl as she put together a very solid start for the Green and White. Koehl improved to 13-4 as she allowed two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and no walks in her seven innings.

Lindsay Lam suffered the loss for the Eagles as she allowed four runs, one earned, on four hits with two strikeouts and a walk in her two-plus innings of work. She falls to 5-2 with the setback. Schmidt tossed the final four innings as she did not allow a run on six hits with two strikeouts.

Offensively, Van Meter led the Spartans as the freshman second baseman went 3-for-3 with one RBI. Gray was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored while Boyer was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

For the Eagles, Butler was 2-for-3 while Sandridge was 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Hillary Rees was 1-for-3 with a run scored.

The Spartans return to action on Tuesday afternoon as they host Stevenson University in a Capital Athletic Conference Tournament First Round contest. The Spartans, who are the three seed in the tournament, face the sixth seeded Mustangs in the tournament's opening round. First pitch at Spartan Stadium is set for 3:30 pm.

GAME ONE BOX

GAME TWO BOX

Photo: Sam Koehl delivers a pitch to the plate in Monday's game two.