TONAWANDA, NY – Western Michigan softball fell just shy in the series finale against the Buffalo Bulls this afternoon, suffering a 2-1 defeat. This afternoon's result moves WMU to 13-18 on the season, and 3-3 against Mid-American Conference opponents.
After a couple of prolific games at the dish from both teams in yesterday's doubleheader, Sunday's rubber match was about as much to the opposite as they come. The first four and a half innings featured nary a run from the Broncos or Bulls and a total of five hits, as well as five runners left on base prior to the bottom of the fifth.
In said frame, UB (13-10, 5-2 MAC) got on the board for a run plus one for some insurance to break the scoring drought at Kenmore High School. The Bulls threatened for more an inning later, but were thwarted by good pitching and sound defense from Western Michigan, and entered the final inning with a 2-0 advantage.
In typical Bronco fashion, head coach
Kathy Leitke's squad refused to go down without a fight. Despite having a tough time getting anything going to that point as a team, junior infielder
Alyssa Kramer stepped into the box and teed off, sending a solo bomb up over the right field wall to slash the Buffalo lead in half.
Unfortunately, that would be as close as WMU would get as Buffalo was able to close out the remainder of the inning clinging to its 2-1 lead. After two contests each lasting over two hours on Saturday, today's contest was over in 100 minutes and featured just seven combined hits.
Junior infielder
Alyssa Kramer went 1-3 this afternoon, including home run number five on the season, which earned her a run batted in as well. Senior infielder
Jordyn Swinehart was 1-2 in her day as well, lacing a base hit to left field in the top of the first.
WMU will take a day before returning to the diamond on Tuesday to host the Bowling Green Falcons for a three-game series. The doubleheader on April 5 is set for a game one first pitch at 3 p.m. with game two to follow, and live scoring will be available for each contest. Admission to all WMU softball games is free to spectators, so come on out to Ebert Field this week to cheer on your Broncos!
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