Hartford, Conn. - Down, 4-2, heading into the bottom of the fifth, the Trinity College softball team scored four runs to take a 6-4 lead and eventual victory in the second game of a doubleheader with the Wesleyan University Cardinals on Tuesday. The Bantams dropped game one, 11-6, in a inter-divisional New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) twinbill on Trinity's campus in Hartford. The Cardinals move wo 12-18 overall while the Bantams are now 14-12 on the year ahead of this weekend's NESCAC East series at Colby. 

Wesleyan scored 11 times on 16 hits in game one to come away with the victory. Kendall Carr (York, Maine) went 4-for-4 at the plate with a triple and three runs scored while Courtney Collins-Pisano (Westwood, Mass.), Marina Williams (San Dimas, Calif.) and Olivia Gorman (Lower Gwynedd, Pa.) each drove in a pair of runs. Trinity got multi-hit efforts from sophomore CF Jenna Thomas (Orange, Conn.) and classmate DP Hannah Zukowski (Burlington, Conn.) while rookie 2B Maura Keary (Fairfield, Conn.) and senior tri-captain C Nicole Towner (Erie, Colo.) both recorded a pair of RBIs. 

Both teams traded runs in the first inning on respective wild pitches before Wesleyan scored on an RBI-single from Collins Pisano in the second to take a 2-1 lead. The 2-1 lead turned into a 4-1 lead after the third thanks largely in part to a run-scoring triple from Carr and an RBI-base hit off the bat of Gorman in the top of the third. The Bantams clawed back in the home half of the fourth to make it a 5-4 game, but a six run fifth by the Cardinals put the game out of reach.

Trinity sophomore 3B Cassidy Schiff (Darien, Conn.) doubled home Towner in the fifth with two outs before Keary followed with a two-run single up the middle to cut the deficit to one. Wesleyan took advantage of three bases-loaded walks in the top of the fifth, a RBI-single from Collins-Pisano and a two-run double from Williams to break open a seven run lead. Trinity tried to make things interesting in the bottom of the inning as Towner chipped away at the deficit with a two-run double, however the visitors limited the damage to that and put up zeros in the sixth and seventh to come away with the win.

Wesleyan once again took an early lead in game two, scoring a pair of runs in the opening frame. Williams launched an RBI-single to centerfield before a sacrifice fly scored Danielle Rinaldi (Ewing, N.J.) to make it 2-0 in favor of the Cardinals. Neither team scored again until the fifth when Wesleyan opened up a 4-0 lead on RBI hits from Williams and Lauren Gaffney-Gomez (Burnaby, British Columbia). Trinity responded in the following half inning to make it a 4-2 game before scoring four times in the sixth to complete the comeback.

Keary singled home sophomore 3B Kaitlyn DeCapua (Milford, Mass.) before later coming around to score on a base hit by senior tri-captain SS Courtney Erickson (Everett, Mass.). First-year pitcher Jordan Stephan (South Orange, N.J.) kept Wesleyan off the scoreboard in the top of the sixth which preceded the Bantams taking a lead they did not surrender the following half inning.

Schiff started things by scoring on a wild pitch to trim Wesleyan's lead to 4-3. Then came sophomore 1B Gillian Birk (Westport, Conn.) who laced a double to center that scored first-year RF Alex Chambers (East Lyme, Conn.) to tie the game. After the second out of the inning, sophomore LF Samantha Witmer (Drexel Hill, Pa.) and Keary came up with clutch two-out, run-scoring singles to give the hosts a 6-4 lead. Stephan did her job in the seventh to shut the door and help seal the two-run victory.

Stephan improved to 5-6 on the year with her win in the circle in game two. She struck out five and allowed just three earned in the victory. Erickson finished 3-for-4 at the plate while Keary was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Gorman and Williams both finished with three hits for the Cardinals in game two.