Maria Brooks allowed just one run in five innings during her college debut. (Sam Powers | Student Life)

The Washington University Bears softball team won both games of their season-opening doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 25, defeating the Hanover College Panthers by scores of 8-0 and 6-1.

While the Bears were originally scheduled to open their season at home against Illinois Wesleyan University on Feb. 18, inclement weather postponed the Bears’ opener until Feb. 25.

“Anytime that you’re opening up the season, there’s a lot of excitement around it,” head coach Casey Cromwell said. “This team just really loves to play and loves to compete, and so I think you’ll see a similar energy on every game day.”

In the first game of the doubleheader, sophomore left fielder Sydney Schneider opened the scoring for the Bears with a two-out, two-RBI single in the second inning. 

After another RBI base hit by senior Ashley Kennedy in the third inning, the Bears would load the bases for Schneider, again with two outs in the frame. Schneider promptly added to the Bears’ lead with a bases-clearing double to left field, making it 6-0.

“Sometimes in softball, there are days where you feel like you’re seeing the ball really well — like the ball looks huge in front of you,” Schneider said. “Today just honestly felt like one of those days for me.”

One batter later, a triple from junior right fielder Erin Reardon drove in Schneider, stretching the Bears’ lead to 7-0. In the bottom of the sixth, junior Natalia Pilpil drove in sophomore pinch runner Alexa Hanish, securing the WashU victory by mercy rule, 8-0.

Junior Jamie Burgasser worked four shutout innings in the pitching circle for the Bears, and senior Emma Urban added two more scoreless frames in relief. Between the two, Bears’ pitching gave up just two hits and one walk in the first game of the doubleheader.

The Bears continued their strong start in game two of the doubleheader with a 6-1 win, anchored again by strong pitching that gave up just three hits. First-year starter Maria Brooks made her debut for the Bears, giving up just one earned run across five innings. Junior Jordan Rossi, who posted a 2.32 ERA across 78.1 innings last season, finished the game with two scoreless frames, allowing no hits while walking one batter.

“The pitching performance was really great,” Cromwell said. “You didn’t even see two of our other pitchers who are great as well. We’re very much a pitch-by-committee and share-the-wealth kind of pitching staff.”

Just like their pitchers, the Bears’ hitters carried over the momentum from the early game into the start of the second matchup, striking early to build a quick lead. In the first inning, first-year Kristina Donaldson launched her first career home run in just her second collegiate at bat. The homer scored Schneider, who had led off the game with an infield single, her third hit of the day.

“I was particularly impressed with our freshmen’s abilities to come into their first real collegiate softball games and make an immediate impact,” Schneider said. “It’s not easy to do, and all six of them absolutely killed it.”

The Bears added a run in the second inning with a sacrifice fly from junior center fielder Maggie Baumstark, who played in all 37 of last season’s games while posting a .302 batting average.

Hanover and WashU each added a run in the fourth inning. Panthers sophomore Jade Wims notched an RBI single for Hanover’s first run of the day, but the Bears responded in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI groundout from sophomore Jamie Cendana, bringing the lead to 4-1.

In the sixth inning, first-year Elena Locascio entered as a defensive replacement for Cendana at second base and quickly made a diving play to rob Hanover of a hit. In the bottom half of the inning, she drove a single to right center field that scored Schneider and Baumstark. Locascio was one of many players to make an impact for the Bears off the bench, a trend that Cromwell pointed out postgame.

“This is what we’re going to do this year,” Cromwell said. “We’re going to have more collective team wins. You’re going to see 14, 15 people in the lineup or come into the game at some point.”

The 6-1 lead held up to be the final score. On a ground ball to the outfield in the seventh inning, first-year right fielder Julia Nicholus capped off the day by throwing out a Hanover baserunner at first for the game’s final out.

While large numbers like WashU’s 14 combined runs and Schneider’s five RBI jump off the stat sheet, Cromwell emphasized the importance of the team’s complete performance across the board.

“I could go around to every position and talk about something special that they did today,” Cromwell added. “This is definitely a starting point for us. The goal is to get one percent better every day.”

After their two season-opening wins, the Bears will have plenty of time to continue to improve before UAA play begins in late March. The team will have its next two weekends off, before continuing its non-conference season on March 12 with a road doubleheader against Birmingham-Southern College.