Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

SOFTBALL | GU’s First Big East Series Cut Short

Inclement weather kept them off the field Sunday, but the Hoyas already had their silver lining. The Georgetown softball team (7-24, 1-1 Big East) opened its Big East schedule against Connecticut (11-12, 1-1 Big East) with a win in game one of a doubleheader on Saturday. The Blue and Gray lost the second game, and Sunday’s finale was cancelled due to poor weather conditons. But aside from an unfortunate sixth inning in game two, the home team enjoyed a strong start to its conference season.

Game one started poorly for the hosts, as the Huskies put two runs on the board in the top of the first. The Hoyas answered immediately, though, staging a two-out, three-run rally in the bottom of the first.

After sophomore catcher Shikara Lowe and freshman shortstop Alexandria Anttila reached base, Anttila’s classmate, third baseman Jenna Stark, drove them both in with a triple to the right field corner. Then, junior first baseman Cara Savarese wrapped up the rally with a hard single through the left side, scoring Stark.

The Huskies responded with a run in the third to tie the game, but that was the visitors’ last run, as junior right-handed pitcher Mackensey Carter settled down and kept the Huskies off the board for the rest of the game.

“We just want [Carter] to stay within herself,” Head Coach Pat Conlan said. “For her it was stay ahead in the count, let’s make good pitches, and let’s let our defense do the work.”

The Hoyas regained the lead when Savarese, who is second on the team to Carter with a .317 average, launched her first homerun of the season. Carter knocked in an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth to help her own cause, completing the scoring in a 5-3 win for the Hoyas.

“UConn has always had a strong program,” Conlan said.

“I thought their pitching staff was average and that we would be able to score a few runs, but I think the key for us was going to be holding their bats in check. And we did that for 12 of the 14 innings we played.”

Georgetown’s bats didn’t cool down in game two. Stark did the damage for the Hoyas in the first inning, blasting a three-run shot over the left field fence. The homer was Stark’s second in three games and tied her with Carter for the team lead in RBI with 12.

“Jenna is an excellent ballplayer,” Conlan said. “She had a tough time early on. She is starting to settle in and taking good swings. This is exactly the type of ball player we knew Jenna was going to be.”

But the Hoyas’ early work was erased by a nightmarish top of the sixth. Senior left-handed pitcher Melissa Conners started the calamitous inning by giving up a single and a double. She was then relieved by Carter, who was charged with nine runs in the frame. Conners, who was charged with two runs, returned to the mound to finish off the 11-run inning.

“It was beyond anything I’d seen in a long time,” Conlan said. “It didn’t matter what pitch we called, no matter what pitcher we had in the game. … I’m not sure there is anything we could have done differently.”

The 14-6 loss dropped Georgetown to 1-1 in the conference. The team returns to action today in nonconference action at Towson, where first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.

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