Softball Drops Two At Lynchburg

The University of Mary Washington’s women’s softball team lost both games of a double-header on Saturday at Lynchburg College. The Eagles were blown out 12-0 in the first game but were only narrowly defeated 1-0 in the second game.

The Hornets got on the board first in the opening game with an RBI single by freshman designated hitter Jenny Carroll. Lynchburg senior third baseman Rachel Gallagher added another run to the Hornets lead with an RBI double later in the inning.

UMW got a leadoff single from sophomore outfielder Amanda Adams in the second, but the Eagles couldn’t drive her home to get on the board. In the home half of the second, Lynchburg exploded for seven runs to sufficiently end the game. The Hornets added three more runs in the shortened five-inning game to get the win over the Eagles, 12-0.

Mary Washington struggled in all facets of the opening game, as they gave up 12 runs, didn’t get a run on the scoreboard themselves, and had three errors to boot. Adams and sophomore pitcher Elizabeth Crowe led the quiet offense as Adams went 2-2 and Crowe went 1-1 while adding a couple of walks in the defeat.

However, Crowe’s pitching performance was far less impressive, as she was hammered for nine runs (seven earned) on nine hits in 1.2 innings of work.

Meanwhile, everyone was involved in the offensive onslaught for Lynchburg, as eight of their nine starters got at least one hit. Carroll and Gallagher led the way, as the two combined to go 5-6 with three runs scored and eight RBI.

The Eagles turned it around in the second game of the doubleheader and put up a much tougher fight, with freshman Annie Blaine pitching a marvelous six innings. Blaine allowed just one run on three hits and one walk while tallying five strikeouts in her six innings outing.

“Annie did a phenomenal job of staying tough in the game,” Crowe said. “We had a huge turnaround.”

Unfortunately for Blaine, Lynchburg junior Caitlin Dolby was just a tad better as the Eagles couldn’t scrape together a run and Blaine’s great performance was all for not. Dolby allowed just five hits and blanked UMW through seven innings of work, which marks the fifth time this season that the Eagles have failed to score a run in a game.

Blaine not only dominated on the mound but also led the team at the plate, as she was responsible for two of the Eagles five hits in the nightcap. Hornets’ senior outfielder Lauren Duguay came up with the big RBI single in the third that ended up being the difference in the game.

“It was a night game and a day game; one good, one bad,” Head Coach Dee Conway said. “In the first, we weren’t hitting the ball well. We didn’t put the hits back-to-back. That is our goal now in order to get more runs.”

Despite failing to score, the UMW performance in game two was a big improvement from the first one. The Eagles actually out-hit Lynchburg 5-3, cut down their errors from three in the day game to just one in the night match, and obviously their pitching performance was a drastic improvement.

The Eagles played Shenandoah University yesterday at 3 p.m., but the game concluded too late to be recorded in this issue. Their next game will be a road game this Saturday against York College at 12:30 p.m.