BALTIMORE, Md. (March 22, 2022)-The Morgan State softball team saw its four-game winning streak come to an end on Tuesday afternoon, following a non-conference doubleheader split against Siena at Lois T. Murray Field.
 
The visiting Saints (5-9) claimed the opener 5-3, but the Lady Bears (11-9) would win the nightcap, 7-3. The loss ended Morgan State's season-long four-game winning streak.
 
Game 1
Siena jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the top half of the first inning. Emma McLaughlin doubled to left field scoring Isabella Pardo and Antonia Alba. Jocelyn Ulrich scored the third run for the Saints when Kyleigh Potter hit into a double play. Ulrich would touch home before the second out of the double play was completed.
 
The Saints increased their lead to 4-0 when Pardo scored on a fielding error in the third inning.
 
Morgan State got on the board in the fourth when Melissa Paz popped up to right field, allowing Aliya Ewell to score for the game's final 4-1 score.
 
Pardo went 2-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored, while McLaughlin was also 2-for-3 with 2RBIs.
 
Aliya Ewell and Tayven Rousseau each had a hit to account for Morgan State's two hits.
 
Ava Fitzmaurice (3-3) pitched a complete game, allowing one run on two hits and a walk, while striking out five Lady Bears.
 
Game 2
The Saints broke a scoreless game with a run in the third when Ulrich singled up the middle to score Sabrina Vargas. Siena added two more runs in the fourth when Angelina Stile doubled to score Potter and Vargas later singled in Stile. It marked the consecutive game that Morgan State faced a 3-0 deficit to Siena.
 
Morgan State, which was held to just two hits in the opening game, would be held without a hit through the first four innings, as Siena starting pitcher Allison Speshyock had a no-hitter brewing heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.
 
The Lady Bears' bats would wake up in the bottom half of the fifth, as the hosts scored seven runs on six hits to turn the tables on the Saints and take control of the game at 7-3.
 
Aliya Ewell led off the inning with a walk and Paz doubled down the left field line to put Ewell on third base when Siena made a pitching change, replacing Speshyock with Nicole Patille. After Asia Thomas was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Rousseau singled through the left side to score Ewell. Victoria Fletcher collected a pinch hit single up the middle to drive in two more runs and even the score at 3-3.
 
The guests would make another pitching change and Madison Bolyea reached on a bunt single to load the bases. Cayla Sweazie hit a one-out pinch hit double to score both Deborah Hamilton and Fletcher to give Morgan its first lead of the day at 5-3. Mia Ewell stepped in the box and hit a triple to center field to bring Bolyea and Irene Martin home for the 7-3 cushion.
Mia Ewell and Bolyea each recorded two hits to lead Morgan State. Mia Ewell, Swazie and Fletcher each had two RBIs.  
 
Sarah Tuzinski (1-0) earned her first win of the season, allowing no runs on one hit, while recording a strikeout in 1.2 innings of relief work.
 
Next Up
Morgan State will travel to Norfolk, Va. this weekend for a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) series against the Norfolk State Spartans (15-13, 2-1 MEAC). It will be the Lady Bears' first trip back to the NSU Softball Field since winning the 2021 MEAC Tournament Championship.
 
The two teams will square off in a doubleheader on Saturday, March 26 at 1 p.m., before concluding the series with a single game on Sunday, March 27 at noon.