WALTHAM, Mass. – The No. 8 Washington University in St. Louis softball team completed a series sweep of Brandeis on Saturday afternoon with a double-header win. The Bears are now 22-3-1 on the season with a 10-2 conference record.
Game 1: WashU 9, Brandeis 0 (6 innings)
The Bears posted the first four runs in the top of the third inning, starting with a lead-off double to left from junior
Kennedy Grippo. Sophomore
Kennedy Rushing put down a sacrifice bunt to move Grippo up and she went on to score on a single to center from first-year
Julia Sullo for a 1-0 lead.
Sullo stole second and senior
Sydney Schneider singled to short to put runners on the corners. Both runners went on to steal a base with Sullo scoring for the 2-0 lead. Sophomore
Harper Nix drilled a two-run homer with two outs, putting WashU ahead 4-0.
The Bears put up two more runs in the top of the fourth inning. Senior
Jamie Cendana led off with a walk and junior
Julia Nicholus singled to left. Grippo laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners and Rushing singled, scoring Cendana. In the next at-bat, Sullo doubled to center, scoring Nicholus for a 6-0 lead.
WashU scored its final runs in the top of the sixth inning, starting with Cendana being hit by a pitch to lead off. Nicholus grounded out to move Cendana to second and she went on to steal third. Grippo singled to center, scoring Cendana for the first run of the inning.
Grippo stole second and moved to third on a ground out from Rushing. Sullo drew a walk and stole second before junior
Kristina Donaldson hit a double to center, scoring both runners to go ahead 9-0.
Sullo finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI in addition to three stolen bases, which set a new UAA single-season stolen base record. Grippo was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and one RBI.
First-year
Jessi Szafoni earned the win in the circle, pitching a complete game with four hits, no runs and five strikeouts.
Game 2: WashU 6, Brandeis 4
WashU scored its first run in the top of the first inning, starting with a lead-off walk from Sullo, who then stole second. With that steal, she broke the program's single-season stolen base record. Schneider reached base on an error and Sullo went on to score for the 1-0 edge.
The Bears scored two more in the top of the second inning. Junior
Elena Locascio led off with a single to third and Cendana singled to left. Cendana stole second and senior
Alexa Hanish singled to center, scoring both Locascio and Cendana for a 3-0 lead.
Brandeis scored its first run in the bottom of the second inning. Maddie Manes singled to second to lead things off and Taryn Rainey grounded out to move Mary Doud, who came on to run for Manes, to second. Elle Ehrlich pushed Doud to third with a ground out to short. Mia Deck hit a double, scoring Doud to make it a 3-1 game.
The Judges took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Brooke Boehmer singled to center to lead off and Jordan Wallace hit a two-run homer to tie things at 3-3. In the next at-bat, Bells Burdenski also hit a homerun for a 4-3 edge.
WashU tied it in the top of the fourth inning. Cendana led off with a single to center and scored on a double from Nicholus for a 4-4 game.
Cendana led off the sixth inning with a homerun to give the Bears a 5-4 lead. Nicholus reached base on an error by third and Hanish laid down a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Sullo singled and advanced to second on the throw, scoring Nicholus for a 6-4 advantage which held to the end.
Cendana was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and one RBI. Schneider went 2-for-4 with one RBI and Hanish was 1-for-2 with two RBI.
Maria Brooks earned her 12
th win of the year, a new career high, pitching five innings of relief with one hit, no runs and seven strikeouts.
The Bears host Carnegie Mellon next weekend in their final home UAA series, beginning with a single game at 3 p.m. on Friday. Saturday will feature a double-header beginning at 12 p.m., which will also be senior day.
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