Bloomington, Ill., April 2, 2021 – The Washington University in St. Louis softball team split a doubleheader at Illinois Wesleyan Friday, posting a 7-5 win in the opener before dropping the nightcap 4-3. 

The Bears moved to 6-7 on the season while the Titans moved to 7-7.

Game 1

Junior Katie Gould's three-run triple in the sixth inning gave WashU the go-ahead runs as the Bears escaped a back-and-forth Game 1 with a win.

Illinois Wesleyan struck first with a run in the second inning on an RBI single by Erica Barker, but WashU responded with a four-run third inning to take the biggest lead of the game at 4-1. Senior Natasha Ramakrishnan kicked off the scoring for the Bears with a two-run single to score Gould and senior Kendall Schwartz. Junior Kirsten Drabek followed with an RBI single to score junior Nicole Hay and Ramakrishnan later scored on a Titan error.

IWU battled back with three runs in the fourth inning to tie the game before scoring in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead. Sophomore Eimear Cunningham and first year Ashley Kennedy picked up back-to-back hits with one out in the sixth before Schwartz drew a walk to load the bases. Gould drove Titan pitcher Bailey Turner's offering deep into left field to clear the bases in what turned out to be the decisive inning for the Bears. 

Gould went 2-for-4 with three RBI to lead the WashU offense while Ramakrishnan drove in two runs and Schwartz scored twice. Junior pitcher Holly Stoner (3-2) picked up the win after throwing 3.1 innings in relief of starter Madison Denton.

Game 2

WashU's couldn't capitalize on a couple of late-game scoring opportunities as the Titans escaped with a one-run victory to secure the split. 

IWU again scored first with a pair of runs in the second inning before WashU answered with three runs in the top of the third to take a brief lead. Gould hit an RBI single to drive in Schwartz and the Bears took advantage of some Titan miscues to score two more runs in the third.

IWU added two runs in the bottom of the third to go up 4-3, and neither team crossed home again through the final four innings. WashU stranded runners on second and third to end the fifth inning and the Bears had the go-ahead run on base with one out in the seventh before the game ended in a double play.

Gould again led the WashU offense, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored while sophomore Tami Wong drew three walks. Stoner (3-3) suffered the pitching loss.

WashU will be back in action with a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader against No. 7 DePauw on Saturday, April 10 at the WU Softball Field.