Washington College softball off to record start in conference play

By Dominic Rapposelli

Sports Editor

The Shorewomen are off to a 9-1 start to Centennial Conference action, the best start through ten games in program history. The Shorewomen took their only loss in Conference action at Swarthmore College in the second game of a road doubleheader.

The Garnet were able to get on the board initially during the first game, leading 1-0 after the first inning. A pair of runs in the top of the second inning put the Shorewomen ahead for the rest of game one. Senior pitcher Lexi Barnhart made her way home first, followed by junior outfielder Lilly Cook. The squad only let up one more run the rest of the way en route to a 7-2 victory in game one. 

“All the teams in our conference are very well matched with us, it does not come easy but I think our team has the skills to win,” Cook said. “I think we are really excited to see more competition in our Conference. It’s still early so we are not keeping our heads too high. I think we are in a really good spot to do something cool with this program.” 

The Shorewomen dropped the second game 7-4 as the Garnet handed WC their only Centennial loss thus far. The Shorewomen took a 2-1 lead after, which went back and forth until Swarthmore pulled ahead for good after a four run performance in the bottom of the fifth.

The Shorewomen followed up their split with Swarthmore by sweeping the visiting Haverford College Fords in a home doubleheader on Sunday, April 14.

In the first bout, Haverford took a 3-1 lead after the first inning, with sophomore outfielder Julia Weglarz being the only WC runner to score. The Fords would give up six runs in the second inning to fall down 7-4. The Shorewomen would take a 16-9 lead into the sixth inning and the Fords could not close the gap.

The Shorewomen were able to complete the sweep after a second game victory through five innings. The score was tied at two runs per squad after the first inning. The Shorewomen then used a five run second inning to jettison ahead for good. Senior utility player Hannah Solge registered her first career home run in the bottom of the fourth to put the score ahead 8-2 before finishing things off with an 11-3 final score. This was the first regular season sweep of the Fords in seven years.

“It feels really great to achieve something like that, especially after struggling somewhat with my hitting in recent games. It definitely helps boost my confidence a lot. It also feels great to have a team that was right there waiting for me to round the bases and I could feel how excited everyone was for me,” Solge said.

Sitting at 18-11-1 and 9-1 in Conference action, the Shorewomen are in a favorable position with eight games to go, all of them coming in the form of same-day doubleheaders. Matchups against the Gettysburg College Bullets, the second ranked Salisbury University Seagulls, and the Dickinson College Red Devils, round up the final three opponents for WC.   

Photo Caption: Senior Hannah Solge added her first career homer in game two against Haverford

Photo Courtesy of WC Athletics

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