Hartford, Conn. – Junior 1B Gillian Burk (Westport, Conn.) went 3-for-3 with an RBI and classmate Madeline Spencer-Orrell (Northampton, Mass.) tossed a five-hit shutout to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 3-0 victory over the visiting United States Coast Guard Academy Bears in softball action this afternoon.  Trinity, which dropped the wild second game of today's twinbill, 15-12, is now 10-5, while the Bears move to 12-10.  Trinity heads to Amherst for a doubleheader on Saturday at noon and the Bears entertain Springfield on Friday at 3 p.m. for two games. 

Trinity scored its first run in game one in the second inning, unearned, when senior tri-captain SS Courtney Erickson (Everett, Mass.) reached on an error to lead things off and scored on a single to center by Burk.  The Bears had runners on base in every inning, but Spencer-Orrell pitched out of trouble each time, finishing with two strikeouts and three walks and improving to 5-1.  The Bantams added two insurance runs in the fifth inning thanks to a two-out, two-run double to right-center field by senior tri-captain C Nicole Towner (Erie, Colo.).  Junior Claire Hurley (Waterford, Conn.) was 3-for-3 with two doubles and a stolen base, while sophomore RHP Sydney Arendt (Manistee, Mich.) allowed two earned runs and four hits with two strikeouts and four walks in the circle for the Bears.

The visitors never trailed in the nightcap, scoring six runs in the top of the first inning and leading by at least three runs the entire game.  Hurley and senior C Sharayah Simco (Florence, Ky.) highlighted the first inning with two-run singles.  Coast Guard scored again in the second inning on a double steal, but Trinity battled back with a four-run third frame.  Bantam first-year 2B Maura Keary (Fairfield, Conn.) and sophomore 3B Cassidy Schiff (Darien, Conn.) both singled and scored, while Towner added a sacrifice fly. 

Coast Guard erupted for six more runs in the fourth inning, as Hurley drove in two more runs with a two-out single, but the home team answered with six runs of its own in the bottom of the fifth to make the score, 13-10.  Sophomore RF Kaitlyn DeCapua (Milford, Mass.) had a two-run double and classmate Samantha Witmer (Drexel Hill, Pa.) added a two-run triple for the Bantams in the fifth.  Junior Courtney McKenna (Sparta, N.J.) had a two-run double for Coast Guard in the sixth inning, but Trinity scored twice in the seventh inning as Keary singled and scored and Schiff doubled and scored before Arendt retired the last out on a ground ball.

Keary finished 3-for-3 with three runs, a walk, and an RBI, while Schiff was 3-for-5 with two runs, and an RBI, and DeCapua was 2-for-4 with a run, two doubles, and three RBI for the Trinity offense in game two.  Hurley was 3-for-4 with two runs and four RBI, while McKenna finished 3-for-5 for Coast Guard.  Bear junior RHP Julia Ferris (Falls Church, Va.) improved to 6-5 despite allowing eight hit and nine runs.  Trinity rookie starter Jordan Stephan (South Orange, N.J.) took the loss. The teams combined for seven errors and 16 unearned runs.