Box Scores: Game 1 / Game 2

Millersville, Pa. — Pitching was strong all afternoon as the Millersville softball team opened its 2010 home schedule with a sweep of visiting Bowie State on Tuesday. The Marauders earned victories of 2-1 and 5-1 behind solid efforts in the circle from Sarah Signore and Alicia Hughes at the MU Softball Field.

Signore (3-0) struck out nine and walked just two in picking up her third win of the season. The junior has thrown the ball with great efficiency early on this season and now has 36 strikeouts against just five walks in six appearances.

She needed to be good in the opener with Millersville's (6-6) offense struggling to produce runs. Kelly Fitzgerald led off the second inning with a double and scored soon thereafter on an RBI single by Jamie Motsko. Signore helped herself at the dish a bit when she knocked in Casey Coker later in the inning to give the Marauders a 2-0 lead.

Bowie State (6-7) slashed the lead in half in the top of the third. After Signore retired the first two batters, Amanda Hedgepeth walked and that set up Kelley Alexander's RBI double. Shalia Tabor fouled out to first to end the threat with the tying run stranded on second base.

Surprisingly, the Bulldogs outhit Millersville 7-3 in game one. The visitors left eight runners on base, however, aiding their demise.

Brittany Peterson pitched 1.1 innings to register her third career save and first this season.

It would be the Bulldogs jumping out to the lead in game two. A first inning walk came back to bite Millersville when Danielle McClay hit a two-out blooper to right field that scored Alexander.

Mental miscues in the baserunning department cost MU scoring opportunities over the first three innings, but the Marauders were finally able to redeem themselves in the fourth. A three-run inning highlighted by Anna Libby's two-run single put the Black and Gold ahead for good.

Millersville pulled away with a run in the fifth and another in the sixth. Amy Kossyk hit a bomb to center field to account for the Marauders' only run in the sixth. The home run was her second of the season.

Turning the tables, MU outhit BSU 9-3 in game two. Eight different players got at least one hit, with Lindsay Hosier the only player to have a multi-hit game. Hosier also stole her seventh base of the season in seven tries.

Hughes (2-3) threw six innings for the victory. The freshman allowed three hits on the afternoon and struck out four. Courtney Eckman pitched a perfect seventh for MU, striking out two along the way.

Millersville looks to break above .500 tomorrow afternoon as it travels to Georgian Court for a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.