Moon Township, Pa. - A pair of Colonial pitchers held visiting Bryant without an earned run for all 15 innings Saturday, but the Robert Morris University softball team was only able to come away with a split of its Northeast Conference (NEC) doubleheader at the North Athletic Complex.
Bryant claimed the opener, 2-0 in eight innings, before RMU bounced back in the nightcap with a 7-4 victory.
Freshman Nicole Sleith (Smithton, Pa. / Yough) and sophomore Geena Badolato (Mt. Lebanon, Pa. / Mt. Lebanon) each started a game, and both did their best to contain the Bulldogs' offense. Sleith went all eight innings in the opener and allowed just four hits while tying her season high with 12 strikeouts. Badolato gave up six hits during her time in the circle while notching five strikeouts against just one walk and no hit batters.
Sophomore Chelsea Siar (Glenshaw, Pa. / Shaler Area) was only retired once in six trips to the plate as she was 3-for-4 with a homer, two walks and two RBI. Siar blasted her fifth long ball of the season and the 11th of her career late in Game Two. She tallied a pair of hits in the nightcap to notch her eighth multi-hit game of the season and the 17th of her career.
Senior Jaci Timko (Houston, Pa. / Chartiers Houston) joined Siar in tallying a homer and a multi-hit game in the nightcap. She was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI as she smashed the 23rd dinger of her career in the fifth inning. Timko's team-leading 11th multi-hit game of the season and the 56th of her career moved her into sole possession of second place in all-time hits at RMU with 188.
Siar and Timko both also helped RMU extend a noteworthy offensive streak. The Colonials have now drilled at least one extra-base hit in 22 consecutive games, their longest such stretch in over eight years.
Offense was quite hard to come by for both teams in the opener as neither team even registered a hit until the bottom of the fifth inning.
RMU worked around a one-out walk in the first when freshman backstop Samantha Santillo (Ellwood City, Pa. / Lincoln) gunned down to second to nab a runner stealing and end the inning.
Each of the next two half-innings went in order before Timko opened the home half of the second with a walk. She moved to second on a sacrifice by Santillo and to third on a groundout but was stranded.
Sleith again notched a 1-2-3 frame in the third, and Siar opened the bottom half with a walk. Redshirt senior Jessica Calderone (Wilmington, Del. / St. Mark's) was hit by a pitch with two outs, which moved Siar into scoring position, but a groundout ended the chance.
Each team went down in order in the fourth. Bryant's leadoff batter of the fifth was hit by a pitch, and she moved to second base with two outs, but a lineout ended the top half.
Junior Britta Grafton (Jamestown, Pa. / Jamestown) nailed an 0-2 pitch into the gap in right center for a leadoff double in the fifth, but two popups and a lineout ended the opportunity.
Bryant got its first hit with one out in the sixth, and the runner would move up on a steal and a wild pitch, but Sleith struck out the final two batters to end the frame.
Senior Sarah Capp (McKees Rocks, Pa. / Montour) singled with one away in the sixth, but RMU could not do anything with it.
Bryant got a leadoff walk in the seventh and moved its runner into scoring position with a sacrifice, but Sleith got a strikeout and a groundout to close the top half.
After RMU went in order in the seventh, Bryant scored the game's only runs in the eighth. With a runner on first and two outs, a throwing error extended the inning, which allowed both runners to come home when the ensuing hitter knocked a single into right center.
Siar singled to lead off the bottom half and bring the tying run to the plate, but each of the next three Colonial hitters were retired.
Both teams were able to generate more runs in the second game although it would take each a little while to crack through.
An error, a sacrifice and a wild pitch put a Bulldog at third with one out in the first, but Badolato got a strikeout and a groundout to bring the Colonial hitters up.
Sophomore Cassie Show (Connellsville, Pa. / Connellsville) led off the bottom half with a full-count walk and moved to second on a sacrifice by Calderone and to third on a wild pitch, but she would not come all the way around.
RMU had a runner reach on an error in the second, but that was it for both sides.
Badolato worked around a leadoff single in the third, and RMU was able to break through in the bottom half.
Siar worked a full-count walk to start it and moved to second on a sacrifice by freshman Alexis Schwartzmiller (Carnegie, Pa. / Chartiers Valley). Show followed with a nine-pitch walk, and both runners moved up on a flyball down the right field line. Capp came through with a RBI single that scored pinch-runner Jessica Tanigawa (Marysville, Wash. / Marysville-Pitchuck). Show would score the second run when Capp went to steal second base and then got caught up in a rundown long enough for the sophomore to touch home.
Badolato worked around a one-out infield single in the fourth, and RMU would double its lead in the home half. Timko opened the frame with an opposite-field single to left before Santillo laced a double into the right-center gap that scored the senior all the way from first. Siar would plate the game's fourth run when she knocked a two-out single into left to bring home pinch-runner Allie Patton (Poland, Ohio / Poland).
Bryant got runners on first and second with one out in the fifth, but Badolato slammed the door shut by registering back-to-back strikeouts on a combined six pitches.
Timko launched a two-run homer to left center with one out in the bottom half to bring home two key insurance runs.
Bryant would get right back into the game in the sixth when it used a pair of hits and a pair of Colonial miscues to score a quartet of unearned runs.
Siar sent a laser that cleared the fence in left on a full count with one out in the bottom half to make it 7-4. With two outs, Show singled, Calderone roped a ground-rule double into left center and Capp walked, but a strikeout kept the Colonials from adding more.
Sleith entered the game in the seventh and notched her fourth save of the season as she worked around a leadoff walk by getting a strikeout, a groundout and a lineout to end the contest.
Sleith moved into ninth place in single-season strikeouts at RMU with 165. Capp moved into the top 10 in single-season RBI (32) with her single in the third.
Timko recorded the 18th multi-RBI game of her career in the nightcap while Siar posted the eighth of her career.
Calderone moved into a tie for third in games played (183) and into a tie for sixth in career runs scored (97), matching her current assistant coach, Lauren Dickinson, in the latter category.
Robert Morris will now turn right around and head to the road for another NEC double-dip Sunday, April 15. The Colonials will travel to Mount St. Mary's with the first pitch scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
