No. 6 WashU Opens Carnegie Mellon Series With 6-3 Win
The No. 6 Washington University in St. Louis softball team defeated Carnegie Mellon 6-3 on Friday afternoon, ending a six-game winning streak for the Tartans. The Bears are 23-3-1 on the year with an 11-2 mark in UAA play.
The Bears scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning to take an early lead. First-year Julia Sullo drew a lead-off walk, stole second and advanced to third on an overthrow. Senior Sydney Schneider reached base on a fielder's choice bunt to the pitcher to score Sullo for a 1-0 game.
Schneider stole second and junior Kristina Donaldson singled through the left side to put runners on the corners. Donaldson stole second and first-year Austen Kinney singled to right, bringing home Schneider. Kinney went on to steal second and senior Alexa Hanish grounded out the third, scoring Donaldson for a 3-0 game.
WashU scored another run in the bottom of the third inning, starting with a lead-off single from first-year Katie Fung. Sophomore Christina Smith, who came on to run for Fung, stole second and advanced to third on the throw before scoring on a sacrifice fly to right field from Kinney.
Carnegie Mellon pulled within one run in the top of the sixth inning. Bella Reuss was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Haley Pucci came on to run for Reuss, reaching third on a Kiera Thomas double down the right field line. Gabrielle Yamoah reached base on a fielder's choice and Pucci was out at home before Maddie Lee singled up the middle, scoring both Thomas and Yamoah for the 4-2 game. The Tartans made it a one-run game as Maddy Beall hit a sacrifice fly in foul territory, scoring Lee to make it 4-3.
The Bears came out in the bottom of the sixth inning to score two more runs for a 6-4 advantage. Kinney led off with a single to left center and was pinch ran for by first-year Allie Botkin. Hanish laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Botkin to second and junior Julia Nicholus drew a walk. Both runners stole a base and junior Kennedy Grippo walked to load the bases.
With two outs, Sullo singled to short, scoring Botkin. Schneider singled through the left side, bringing in Nicholus for the three-run edge.
Sullo was 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored while Kinney finished 2-for-2 with two RBI. Schneider was 1-for-3 with two RBI.
Junior Maria Brooks picked up her 13
th win of the year in the circle, pitching a complete game with six hits, three runs and seven strikeouts.