The softball team (4-7) suffered a loss to intracity rival Providence College (10-5) 6-1 on Tuesday afternoon in Brown’s home opener. After Providence scored all six of its runs in the first inning, the Bears were unable to overcome the deficit.
The top of the first inning started with Providence capitalizing on two errors by Brown to score its six runs, including a double to clear the bases with two outs.
After Providence’s first inning scoring torrent, pitchers Jodie Aguirre ’24 and Erin Elgas ’23 stifled Providence’s offense for the remainder of the game — neither of them allowing a run.
In the second inning, Laurel Moody ’25 led off the hitting with a blast to right center field that bounced off and over the top of the wall, scoring the Bears’ sole run of the game.
Moody’s scoring effort was capped there, as the Bears struggled to get on base throughout the game. The game ended with only four Brown hits from four different players.
Dara English ’24 doubled to the right center wall with one out in the third inning and reached third base on a ground out but could not make it home.
Singles — one from Meghan Gormley ’23 in the fourth and one as a final threat from Alexis Guevara ’25 — ended up fruitless and the game finished with a final score of 6-1.
The loss to Providence comes after the Bears went 4-1 last weekend at a tournament in Houston. The previous weekend, the Bears went 0-5 at the Florida International University Invitational tournament in Miami.
Head Coach Kate Refsnyder spoke on her team’s rapid improvement from Miami to Houston. “We started really stringing things together (with) hitting … in Texas,” Refsnyder said. “Our pitchers have been doing a great job. We have six pitchers who can give us quality innings.”
The Bears are becoming accustomed to making progress from game to game and within a game itself, as the team did against Providence. Our “defense (has had some) hiccups but we’re not making the same mistakes twice,” Refsnyder said.
Moody hit her third home run of the young season against Providence. The first-year has recently been playing the catcher position for the Bears but played third baseman on Tuesday against Providence. “She’s a kid that I’ve seen play for years, and she’s always been a hitter, so I knew that was something we were getting when we brought her in,” Refsnyder said. “She’s living up to (the expectations) and she’s proving her power.”
“We really came together as a team and we’re all playing for each other,” Moody said. “We all picked each other up and played really well in Texas.”
Because the 2020 season was cut short due to the pandemic, the return to a full season of play comes as a welcome change to both players and coaches. “It’s the best type of busy that I could ever imagine,” Refsnyder said. “It’s what we want to do.”
Pitcher Grace Ladd ’22 spoke on competing again after the hiatus. “We’re all eager to be back on the field and show everyone what we can do.”
The annual matchup between Brown and Providence comes with an added sense of competition between the cross-city schools. “You always want to beat them,” Refsnyder said. “I think we just beat ourselves in that first inning today.”
“It’s always fun to play the teams in Rhode Island and to have that competition, so it was great to play them,” Ladd said. “We obviously didn’t have the showing that we wanted, but we’re excited to be here and ready to take on this (challenge) again.”
The Bears look to bounce back as they travel to Maryland this Friday, March 11 to take on University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Hofstra University. The following two days they will play in the Towson University Tiger Clash tournament against the University at Albany, Towson University and Monmouth University.
