No. 7 WashU Softball Splits With Emory to Open Series

ATLANTA, Ga. – The No. 7 Washington University in St. Louis softball team split with Emory on Friday afternoon, setting up a winner-take-all situation on Saturday for the UAA title.

The Bears are 27-5-1 on the year with a 14-3 mark in UAA play.

Game 1: WashU 7, Emory 2

After two scoreless innings, the Bears scored their first run of the game in the top of the third inning, starting with a lead-off walk from first-year

Emmy May. First-year

Katie Dolin laid down a sacrifice bunt to move May to second and senior

Sydney Schneider singled to left, scoring May for the 1-0 advantage.

Emory tied things up in the bottom of the third. With one out, Ashley Chu singled up the middle and Megan Sutton reached on a fielder's choice. Ellie Zerr tripled to center, scoring Sutton.

The Bears took another lead in the top of the fifth. With one out, first-year

Julia Sullo singled to left and stole second. Schneider doubled up the middle, bringing Sullo home for the 2-1 edge.

WashU scored two more in the top of the sixth, starting with a lead-off walk from junior

Elena Locascio. Senior

Alexa Hanish was hit by a pitch and junior

Kennedy Grippo laid down a sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position. Junior

Julia Nicholus had a sacrifice fly to second, scoring first-year

Ava Peterson, who came on to run for Locascio, and Hanish.

The Bears put up three more runs in the top of the seventh inning. Sullo led off with a single to third and advanced to third on a throwing error by third base. Schneider put down a sacrifice bunt to score Sullo for the first run of the inning. With two outs, junior

Kristina Donaldson drew a walk and Locascio drilled a homer to left field, making it a 7-1 game.

The Eagles scored one more in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs, Shea Johnson and Chu had back-to-back singles to short. Sutton singled to center, scoring Johnson. The Bears ended the game with a putout at home of Chu.

Schneider went 2-for-3 with three RBI and Sullo was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Locascio finished 1-for-2 with two RBI and one run scored.

Junior pitcher

Maria Brooks picked up her 15

th win of the season, pitching a complete game with seven hits, two earned runs and five strikeouts.

Game 2: Emory 2, WashU 1

The Bears scored first, starting with a lead-off single from Sullo, who then stole second, in the top of the first inning. Schneider put down a sacrifice bunt to move Sullo to third and with two outs, Donaldson singled through the left side to score Sullo and make it a 1-0 game.

The Eagles tied it a 1-1 in the bottom of the second. Zoe Horning led off with a single to second and advanced on an Ella Hoyle ground out. With two outs, Horning stole third and scored on a throwing error.

After multiple scoreless innings, Emory walked it off in the bottom of the seventh inning. Horning led off with a single through the right side and Hoyle reached on a fielder's choice. Radha Samuel came on to run for Hoyle and moved to second as Addison Kwong drew a walk. With one out, Alejandra Wittman singled to right field, scoring Samuel and ending the game.

Sullo went 2-for-3 with one run scored and Donaldson was 1-for-3 with one RBI.

First-year

Jessi Szafoni took the loss, pitching a complete game with six hits, two runs and three strikeouts.

The Bears conclude the series and the regular season at 3 p.m. tomorrow against the Eagles.

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