By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — The St. Bonaventure softball team flourished in the latter innings in its series sweep over Rhode Island, its first sweep in A10 play this season.
In the first game of the series, the Bonnies were blanked through three frames, but managed to score three in the fourth inning. And between the burst of offense and the fact that the Rams struggled bringing runs across themselves, connecting for seven hits but only scoring two runs, Bona was able to edge out a 3-2 win.
Another major factor in the series-opening win was Kendall Stull who pitched in relief for the final three frames. In that time, she gave up zero hits, zero runs, and struck out one.
A similar tale was spun in the second game of the series, a 5-1 win for the hosts, with the Bonnies once again breaking the game open with three runs in the fourth. The difference between the first two games being that the hosts were able to generate some sporadic offense early on as well, scoring a run apiece in the first and third innings. The Bonnies benefitted from more efficient pitching in the second game as well with Mackenzie Frani going the distance and only giving up three hits, a run and three walks while striking out four.
In the final game of the series, Rhody jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but once again a resilient Bona team bided its time and came to life later on, scoring four runs in the fifth inning, en route to a 5-4 win.
Karena Recrosio led the Bonnies from the leadoff spot, going 2-for-3 with a run. The top of the order did well in backing her up too, with the next three batters (Victoria Jacques, Kymora Wang and Stull) going 1-for-3, 1-for-3 and 1-for-2, each tacking on a run apiece as well.
And, once again, Bona was able to get good production from the circle with its two standout pitchers from the first two games, Frani and Stull, combining for the win.
The third and final win over Rhody gave the Bonnies their first series sweep over an A10 opponent since 2016 when they managed to do so over Rhode Island as well.
