Junior Maggie Baumstark hit 5/9 against NYU and scored four runs. (Jialing Sun | Student Life)

The Washington University Bears softball team had a clear mission in their second weekend of conference play. After splitting a series against Brandeis University the previous weekend, the Bears were looking to make a statement in their next four games, traveling to face the New York University (NYU) Violets in a four-game set.

“We felt like we could have played better [last weekend],” junior Natalia Pilpil said. “We all felt like we were the better team, but we need[ed] to prove it.”

This weekend, however, the Bears left no doubt as to who the better team was. WashU swept the four-game series, securing two victories by mercy rule and outscoring NYU 33-3 across the weekend on April 5-7. With the sweep this weekend, the Bears improved to 6-2 in University Athletic Association (UAA) play and 17-7 overall. However, the team will have their work cut out for them next week when they host No. 6 Case Western Reserve University, who is in first place in the UAA with an 8-0 conference record.

Pilpil helped the Bears set the tone in the series opener, hitting two home runs and driving in six runs. It was the first game of a big weekend for Pilpil, who went 8-15 with seven RBIs across the weekend series. The performance earned her UAA Softball Hitter of the Week.

WashU won the Friday game 12-0 via mercy rule, securing the win in only five innings. Pilpil, used most often at third base this season, played catcher in Friday’s game, calling the pitches for junior Jordan Rossi. With Pilpil behind the plate, Rossi shut down the Violets, pitching five scoreless innings with only three hits allowed.

“She was lights out. She was hitting all her spots,” Pilpil said. “Our pitchers, they’re awesome. They’re a complete staff.”

Behind Rossi, the Bears offense broke out to record the team’s highest-scoring game of the season. WashU started early with four runs in the first inning and never looked back, scoring multiple runs in each frame of Friday’s contest. After the games, Pilpil discussed the importance of getting on the board quickly to set the tone.

“We always want to punch first,” she said. “And if we give up some runs, get them right back.”

Rossi’s pitching performance lowered her season Earned Run Average (ERA) to 1.32, a mark that leads the UAA. Including Rossi, the Bears’ pitching staff has the three best pitchers by ERA in the conference, with first-year Maria Brooks (1.42) and junior Jamie Burgasser (1.62) also turning in strong seasons so far.

Despite the concentration of Bears pitchers at the top of the ERA leaderboards, Brooks denied any friendly competition within the staff.

“We work together to help each other keep our ERAs low,” she said. “At the end of the day, the stats are just numbers. They can tell you a lot, but also sometimes, you can get a little too caught up in them.”

In the first game of the Saturday doubleheader, the Bears sent Brooks into the pitching circle to face the Violets. Brooks followed Rossi’s outing with a complete-game performance of her own, allowing only one run on five hits to lead a 6-1 WashU victory.

On the mound, Brooks was able to rebound after allowing two hits, one of them an RBI double, in the first inning. Over the next six innings, she allowed no runs and only three hits. She commented post-game about staying in control.

“Sometimes I just need to dial back in,” she said. “Just knowing that ‘Hey, I still got a whole game ahead of me, it’s not that deep.’”

The Bears’ offense backed Brooks with six runs after trailing early. Junior second baseman Brooke Capparelli had a strong day at the plate, going 3-3 with two RBI. First-year Kennedy Grippo also added two hits and an RBI in Saturday’s first game.

In Saturday’s second game, the Bears rode another strong pitching performance to victory, this time from Burgasser. Behind her complete-game outing, the Bears won 4-1. Junior right fielder Erin Reardon had two RBI in the game, while graduate student catcher Payton Irwin went 3-3 and scored twice.

Despite their big offensive performances in the other games of the series, the Bears were content to play small ball in Saturday’s second game. WashU got out to a 3-1 lead on a wild pitch and a pair of sacrifice plays before sophomore Sydney Schneider’s RBI single in the sixth inning extended their lead to 4-1. 

Burgasser held the Violets to one run on just three hits in the game, striking out seven. Burgasser, who was named UAA Softball Pitcher of the Week, leads the Bears with 38 season strikeouts.

On Sunday, the Bears finished strong with an 11-1 win, also by mercy rule. WashU jumped out to another quick lead with three runs in the first inning, followed by four runs in each of the next two frames. Juniors Olivia Craycraft and Taylor Geluck each recorded three RBI, with Geluck driving in two on a home run in the second inning.  

In the pitching circle, first-year Hattie Bond held the Violets to just one run in the series finale. Bond allowed six hits and no walks across the shortened five-inning game, maintaining WashU’s season-long trend of shutdown pitching.

After the big wins, WashU sits in second place in the UAA and will look to ride its momentum into another key series when it hosts conference leader Case Western Reserve University next weekend.

“We’re trying to keep that same confidence and momentum,” Pilpil said. “A lot of softball is a mental game, so trying to keep that same confidence is going to be huge.”