NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Christopher Newport University took both ends of a doubleheader Thursday over Bridgewater College at Captains Park. CNU, ranked third in the country, took the opener by a 3-1 score, and then downed the Eagles in the nightcap, 8-2. The Captains are now 21-1 and have won nine consecutive games. Bridgewater fell to 12-8 with the two losses.
Senior pitcher
Kate Alger and fifth-year third baseman
Brooke Greaver led the charge in the first game. Alger out-dueled Bridgewater starter MacKenzie Cauthorn by throwing a complete game, allowing just one hit, and striking out ten batters. Greaver crushed two home runs to drive in all three runs in the 3-1 victory to open the day.
Sophomore centerfielder
Candace Slaw led off with a single and stole second base in the first inning of the opener, setting up Greaver for her first long ball. She responded by smacking a Cauthorn pitch over the rightfield fence to give the Captains an early 2-0 edge. Alger sailed through the first four frames, retiring the first 12 batters she faced. BC shortstop McKenna Mueller ended the string by leading off the fifth with a home run to cut the Captains lead to 2-1. Greaver, however, got the run back in the bottom of the sixth when she left the yard for the second time, this time clearing the fence in center, to provide the 3-1 final verdict. The two home runs give Greaver 34 for her career, fifth-most in school history.
Alger threw just 80 pitches as she retired 21 of the 22 Eagles she faced, ten by strikeout. She improved her record to 10-0 on the year and with her ten strikeouts now has 515 for her career, most ever in CNU history. Cauthorn took the hard-luck loss to fall to 5-4 despite yielding just three runs on four hits to the Captains.
In the second game, the Captains erupted for eight runs on 12 hits in the 8-2 victory. Greaver drove home three more runs, two with a single and one with a sacrifice fly, giving her 36 runs batted in this year in just 22 games.
Keith Parr's squad scored four times in the third inning, and added three more in the sixth to open up the lead. Seniors
Kendall Bentley and
Meredith Brickner also each drove in two runs as the Captains completed the sweep.
Senior
Olivia Kim made her first start of the year in the second game, and went the distance to earn the victory and improve to 2-0. Kim scattered five hits and allowed just one earned run while striking out three Bridgewater batters.
Slaw was four-for-four at the plate in the nightcap, and ended up going six-for-seven for the day, scoring four times. She raised her batting average back over the .600 mark, and now is 46-for-74 for the year (.622).
CNU is now 15-1 at home this season, and the Captains continue their stretch of 14 straight home games on Sunday. The Captains have won nine of ten games in the home stand that began with the Cross Bay Bash. Christopher Newport returns to action on Sunday, hosting Meredith College at Captains Park, and the doubleheader will begin at 2:00 p.m.
