WASHINGTON - The Gallaudet University softball team opened up the 2017 season here Friday on an unusually hot February afternoon as they took on nearby foe Catholic University of America in a non-conference doubleheader. The Bison (0-2) were swept by the Cardinals (2-0) as GU fell 6-0 in the first game and 5-1 in the second game, which was cut short due to lack of light after the sixth inning.

Game 1: Catholic 6, Gallaudet 0
Gallaudet struggled at the plate and were unable to get on the scoreboard in the season opener. The Bison were held without a hit until the bottom of the fifth inning.

The only two hits for the Bison came from junior pitcher Alyssa Barlow (Chandler, Ariz.) in the fifth and the seventh innings.

Barlow pitched a complete game as she held the Cardinals to just two runs through six innings before Catholic plated four runs in the seventh.

Game 2: Catholic 5, Gallaudet 1
Although Gallaudet was able to get on the scoreboard, it still had trouble at the plate throughout the second game.

Nevertheless, the Bison forced Cardinals pitcher Megan Colline to throw strikes before she was lifted in the third inning.

Four Bison were walked in the first inning alone, which allowed senior pitcher Jordan Hogan (Severn, Md.) to score for the Bison.

Catholic scored two runs in the first and third innings before adding a run in the fifth.

Hogan (0-1) pitched a complete game as she allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits and one walk.

Once again Barlow was the only Bison to earn a hit when she knocked a single to left field in the bottom of the third.

BISON TRACKS

• Briana Pogue (Papillion, Neb.), Emily Walters (Gillette, Wyo.), Darriyan Thomas (Vallejo, Calif.) and Kelsey Hudson (Blissfield, Mich.) all stole a base for Gallaudet in the second game
• In game two, Thomas earned her first collegiate RBI
• Barlow batted a combined 3-for-5 in the doubleheader

UP NEXT
The Bison will take the field again on Sunday, Feb. 26, as they host University of Valley Forge for a non-conference doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.