Softball focused despite loss

BY TRAVIS QUATTLEBAUM

The lady Eagles softball team’s woes continued in the trek north to face the Salisbury University Sea Gulls. Still managing to stay just above .500 for the year, the University of Mary Washington dropped two important games against the first place Salisbury.

Salisbury pitcher Rachel Johnson was electric, throwing five perfect innings to propel the Sea Gulls to an impressive 8-0 first game victory. Johnson, the reigning Capital Athletic Conference pitcher of the week, moved to a 16-0 personal record while striking out 10 of the 15 UMW batters she faced.

The Salisbury offense backed up their star pitcher in the bottom of the second, scoring a whopping seven runs to take a commanding lead.

The Eagles changed pitchers and saw only one more run added before calling the game after the top of the fifth. Despite allowing seven runs on her watch, Rachel Watts allowed only one earned run with one strike out.

Not much changed in the second game for the Eagles. Even with an early lead in the first by the duo of Erica Falvey and Grace Henry, UMW’s offense was no match for the Salisbury pitching staff. After allowing the sole run in the first, Sea Gull’s pitcher Kathryn Larson did not allow another hit in the remaining four innings.

Salisbury did a majority of their scoring in the bottom of the second, adding six runs to the two from the first inning. Topping off the bottom of the fifth with a final run, Salisbury won outright 9-1 to move themselves to 29-1 for the season.

Allowing seven runs on seven hits, UMW pitcher Ashton Ferneyhough lasted just 1.1 innings before being relieved by Erin Stinson. Ferneyhough was not the only Eagle in a slump, through both games 15 of the 36 batters struck out while three errors by the defense put the Eagles in a rough position.

The ladies end the regular season with a home stretch against Shenandoah at home on April 15. The first pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.