SEGUIN, Texas – The No. 6 Washington University in St. Louis softball team split against No. 3 Texas Lutheran on Wednesday afternoon in the first game of its spring break trip. The Bears are now 11- 1 on the year.
Game 1: TLU 8, WashU 5
The Bears got on the board in the top of the first, going up 2-0. First-year
Julia Sullo drew a lead-off walk and stole second. Senior
Sydney Schneider doubled to left center, scoring Sullo for the first run of the game. Sophomore
Harper Nix followed with a single to center, scoring Schneider.
Texas Lutheran responded with six runs in the bottom of the first inning. Caelee Clark led off with a single to second and stole second. Riley Davila drew a walk and Taylor Vannett reached on a fielder's choice with Clark scoring on an error.
Serena Gonzalez drove in Davila with a sacrifice fly to right to tie things 2-2 and Harleigh Russell scored Vannett on a sacrifice fly. Cady Bowyer reached base on a fielding error and Ashley McMahon singled to short. Roccia Moreno drew a walk to load the bases and Chesley Swisher reached base on a throwing error, scoring Bowyer. Clark reached on a fielder's choice, scoring McMahon. For the 6-2 lead.
The Bears posted two more runs in the top of the third inning. Junior
Kristina Donaldson had a one-out single to short and first-year
Austen Kinney singled to left. Junior
Kennedy Grippo reached base on a fielding error, loading the bases. Senior
Jamie Cendana singled to left, scoring both Donaldson and Kinney for a 6-4 game.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Clark drew a lead-off walk to TLU and stole second. Davila grounded out to advance Clark to third and Clark went on to score on a Vannett single to right.
TLU scored its final run in the bottom of the sixth inning. With two outs, Davila singled to left, stole second and advanced to third on the throw. Vannett singled to short, scoring Davila for the 8-4 lead.
In the top of the seventh inning with two outs, Nix singled to left and advanced to second on a passed ball. Donaldson singled to center, scoring Nix for the 8-5 game.
Sullo went 2-for-3 with one run scored while Schneider, Nix and Donaldson all finished 2-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI each. Cendana was 2-for-2 with two RBI.
First-year
Jessi Szafoni took the loss in the circle, pitching a complete game with eight hits and two earned runs.
Game 2: WashU 7, TLU 1
TLU scored first, putting up its lone run in the bottom of the second inning. Russell drew a lead-off walk and stole second. Swisher singled to first to put runners on the corners and stole second. Clark reached on a fielder's choice and Russell scored for the 1-0 game.
The Bears put up two runs in the top of the third inning. Grippo led off with a single up the middle and stole second. With two outs, Sullo tripled to left, scoring Grippo and went on to score herself on a single to right center from Schneider.
WashU scored three more runs in the top of the fifth inning. With one out, Sullo singled up the middle and stole second. Schneider singled to left, scoring Sullo for a 3-1 lead. Schneider advanced to second on a ground out from Nix and Donaldson singled to short, advancing to second on a fielding error and scoring Schneider.
Junior
Julia Nicholus reached on a throwing error by short and Kinney doubled down the left line, scoring Donaldson to put the Bears ahead 5-1.
WashU scored its final two runs in the top of the seventh inning. Schneider led off with a single to left and stole second. First-year
Katie Fung double to left center, scoring Schneider. Junior
Elena Locascio grounded out to second, moving Fung head to third and Nicholus singled to right to score Fung.
Schneider went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs. Sullo finished 2-for-4 with two runs and one RBI while both Nicholus and Kinney finished 2-for-4 with an RBI each. Grippo finished 2-for-4 with one run scored.
Junior
Maria Brooks earned the win in the circle to improve to 5-0 on the year, pitching a complete game with four hits, one earned run and 10 strikeouts.
The Bears are back in action Friday against Trinity (TX) at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
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