Bates Softball drops series opener to Bowdoin 4-3 in eight innings

Lauren O'Shea (shown sliding into third base with Bates' Paige Ahlholm guarding the bag in a 2015 game) hit the game-winning single in the eighth inning for Bowdoin in a 4-3 win over Bates on April 8, 2016. (File photo by Josh Kuckens/Bates College)

BRUNSWICK, Maine -- A bases-loaded, one-out single by Lauren O'Shea in the bottom of the eighth inning, giving Bowdoin a 4-3 victory over the Bates softball team on Friday in the first game of the rivals' three-game NESCAC East Division series.

The Bobcats (0-14, 0-2 NESCAC East) will resume their quest for their first victory with a home opener doubleheader against the Polar Bears (10-7-1, 1-1 NESCAC East) on Saturday beginning at noon.

Bates scored two runs in the fourth and added one in the fifth to assume a 3-1 lead. Bowdoin tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the sixth, and the game entered extra innings after a scoreless seventh.

First-year Kylie Martin (Poland, Maine) scattered 12 hits and three walks in giving up four runs over
7 1/3 innings to accept the loss.

Bowdoin starter Emily Griffin allowed three runs and struck out eight over six innings. Julia Geaumont (7-2) blanked Bates in the seventh and eighth innings to earn the victory.

Bowdoin took a 1-0 lead in the third as Martin walked two batters and Caroline Rice singled to score O'Shea from third.

Bates answered with two in the top of the fourth. Senior Karen Lockhart (East Greenwich, R.I.) hit a one-out triple and junior Maddie Inlow (Falmouth, Maine) followed with an RBI double. After a walk issued to first-year Madison Fox (Denver, Colo.) and a fielder's choice by sophomore Paige Ahlholm (North Andover, Mass.), Inlow scored on sophomore Tori Fitzgerald's (Holliston, Mass.) grounder to shortstop.

The Bobcats added a run to their lead in the fifth, as Fox drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs, scoring first-year Andrea Russo (Cheshire, Conn.).

Katie Gately and Claire McCarthy reached on back-to-back singles in the bottom of the sixth. Marisa O'Toole followed with a bases-clearing triple that drove in the pair, tying the game at 3-3.

Neither team could end the game in regulation as Lockhart denied a home run bid from Samantha Valdivia in the seventh at straight away center. Geamount retired Bates in order to begin the eighth.

Bowdoin loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning. With one out on the board, O'Shea dropped a ball into shallow left field that allowed O'Toole to score from third.

Russo batted 2-for-3 and scored a run for Bates.