Washington U. Softball Splits Doubleheader With Fontbonne
BOX 1 | BOX 2 | UPDATED STATS
St. Louis, Mo., April 1, 2012 – The Washington University in St. Louis softball team were involved in a pair of one-run games in a doubleheader split with Fontbonne University on Sunday afternoon at the WU Softball Field in St. Louis. The Bears held on for a 5-4 win in game one, before suffering a 7-6 defeat in the nightcap.
Washington U. 5, Fontbonne 4 – Game One
Washington University scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning on a pair of hits and took advantage of a costly error by Fontbonne. The Bears loaded the bases with one out, and then sophomore Maggie Mullen singled to left field driving in two runs. Another run came across the plate after sophomore Kelcey Neal reached on an error by second baseman Cara Hargate.
Fontbonne answered back with a run in the third on an RBI single by Cassi Glixxman, and then cut the lead to 3-2 on a sac fly by Rachel McCarthy in the fourth. Fontbonne loaded the bases in the fifth after two errors and a hit-by-pitch, but senior Olivia Cook got Sarah Cerutti to pop out.
Neal doubled to deep right field with one in the sixth to extend Washington U.’s lead to 4-2. Mullen reached base on a fielder’s choice with one out, and got a good jump on Neal’s base hit and scored all the way from first base. The Bears were not done yet in the sixth, as sophomore pinch-hitter Stacy Berg drove in Neal with a hard liner off the pitcher’s glove to make it 5-2.
Fontbonne scored two runs in the top of the seventh after back-to-back RBI singles from Cassandra Glixman and Danielle Glixman, and the tying run was at third with one out. Cook got Cerutti to pop up to second for the second out, and then Samantha Rosner popped up to end the game.
Cook picked up the win on the mound tossing a complete game allowing nine hits and four earned runs. She struck out three and walked two in en route to her 37th victory of her career. Neal was 2-for-3 with an RBI and reached based three times. Fontbonne had a 9-8 advantage in hits.
Fontbonne 7, Washington U. 6 – Game Two
The Griffins scored five runs –four unearned - in the top of the second inning to jump out in front 5-0. Fontbonne recorded just three hits in the inning, but took advantage of two Washington U. errors. The Bears tacked on a run in the bottom half of the inning following a solo homerun by Mullen. The round tripper was her fifth of the season and 14th of her career, tied for eighth most in school history.
A two-run homerun by Cook in the bottom of the third inning cut the lead to 5-3. The homerun for Cook was the first of her career in 69 at-bats. Fontbonne (13-7) tacked on another unearned run in the top of the sixth following Washington U.’s third error of the contest.
Washington U. put a rally together in the sixth inning to get back into the contest. Senior Alyssa Abramoski led off the inning with a solo homerun to get the lead down to two (6-4), and then junior Sondra Polonsky knotted things up at 6-6 with a two-out, two RBI single to right.
Neal made the start in game two for Washington U., allowing nine hits and six runs (one earned) in six innings pitched. Cook took the ball from Neal for the seventh inning and retired the first two batters on a groundout and a pop up. She was ahead on the count 1-2 with Cerutti, and thought she struck her out on a pitch in the zone. Cerutti ran the count to 3-2, before hitting the full count pitch over the fence for the game-winning homerun.
Cook (7-4) took the loss allowing one hit and one earned run in seventh inning. Each team had 10 hits, while Fontbonne did not commit an error. Cook (2-for-3, two RBIs, two runs scored), Polonsky (2-for-4, two RBIs) and senior Corissa Santos (2-for-3) each had a pair of hits in the loss.
Washington University (15-7) takes on No. 7 ranked Central College in a doubleheader on Thursday, April 5, in Pella, Iowa. Game one is set to begin at 3 p.m.
Bear Notebook: Abramoski and Santos each started their 151s-straight game on Sunday, 10th most in school history … Santos’ walk in game two was the 56th of her career, moving past Liz Swary (2002-05) into first in school history.