COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College softball team engaged in another low-scoring doubleheader in Saturday's Centennial Conference opener against Dickinson, emerging from a pair of one-run nail-biters with a split of the afternoon action.
Dickinson (4-14, 1-1) rode a two-hitter from Madison Milaszewski to a 1-0 win in Game One, while senior Zoe Heinke answered with a complete-game effort as the Bears (7-9, 1-1) edged out a 3-2 verdict in the nightcap.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Willis was almost as untouchable as Milaszewski in the opener, but Dickinson made her pay for her one mistake, a pitch that Grace Edelson hit out of the yard for a solo shot in the top of the second inning. Willis held the Red Devils to three hits and registered a season-high 10 strikeouts, but the visitors' ace was just a tad better.
Milaszewski stranded runners on second and third in the bottom of the second before going on cruise control, setting down 13 in a row until freshman Samantha Garritano just beat out an infield single with one out in the seventh. Milaszewski recovered to get the next two outs and seal the victory; she struck out 10 with just one walk.
Freshman Brittany Gasser had the other hit for the Bears.
Ursinus finally ended its scoring drought in the second inning of Game Two, as freshman Sammi Donato singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch. The Bears stretched the lead to 3-0 in the fourth on freshman Callie Crouse's two-out, two-run single through the right side.
Those runs proved critical as Dickinson's Nicole Torlincasi went deep twice over the final three innings, the first coming in the fifth and the second cutting the Ursinus lead to one with one out in the seventh. Heinke came through with a pair of groundouts, taking the second herself, to wrap up the split.
Heinke (2-3) scattered six hits over seven innings, walking two and striking out four. She also had a base hit and scored a run.
Torlincasi was 3-for-4 with the two round-trippers, but the rest of the Red Devil lineup managed just three hits in 23 at-bats against the Bears' senior right-hander.
Ursinus welcomes Franklin & Marshall to Snell Field for a CC twin bill on Tuesday, March 29.