BOWIE, Md. - Bowie State seniors
Ja'seph Smith (Bowie, Md.),
Jacqueline Pickering (Bowie, Md.),
Lindsey Fenner (Havre de Grace, Md.) and
Nicoleen Ochoa (Madison, Ohio) went sent out on high note battering Virginia Union 9-3 in the regular season finale for both teams on Saturday afternoon. Smith, Pickering, Fenner and Ochoa were honored in a special pregame ceremony.
SENIOR DAY ACTION SHOTS
Ochoa and freshman
Morgana Johnson (Baltimore, Md.) paced the Bulldogs with a pair of hits each while junior
Tiffany Bearns (Lusby, Md.) led both teams with four RBI. As a team, Bowie State (13-17) tallied seven hits with Ochoa and Bears recording their fourth and third homerun respectively on the season. Ochoa pulled her pitching record even at 10-10, going all seven innings in the circle, allowing six hits, while striking out two.
The Virginia Union (15-9) trio of Breana Miller, Shontel Linnette and Khayla Easley accounted for two hits each in the non-conference loss. Lynette was responsible for all three Lady Panther RBI and crushed a two-run home run.
After a scoreless first inning, the Bowie State Bulldogs put two on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning. Fenner sandwiched a walk between two Bulldogs strikeouts and later scored on a huge triple to right by Johnson. Ochoa drilled a double to left center, scoring Johnson for a 2-0 lead.
The Panthers pushed one across the dish in the top of the third inning courtesy of a Linnette double that scored Annie Brenner, cutting the Bulldogs lead in half at 2-1.
Virginia Union's Linnette shifted the advantage over to the visitors at 3-2 in the top of the fifth inning, belting a two-run homerun to straight away center field.
However, Ochoa led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a solo blast to right center to knot the game at 3-all. With a runner on first, BSU's Bearns stroked a two-run homer to put the Bulldogs back in front at 5-3.
The Bulldogs defense held the Lady Panthers scoreless in the top of the sixth inning and broke the game open in the bottom of the frame, pushing four runs across the dish on three hits to close out the game at 9-3.
Bowie State University will enter the 2018 CIAA Championships as the No. 4 Seed in the North and will face (No. 1 South) Saint Augustine's University at 12 p.m. Monday (4/30) at the Moyer Sports Complex in Salem, Va. The Bulldogs and Lady Falcons met once during the regular season with Saint Augustine's edging Bowie State 5-4 at the conference Round-Up (3/17).