Senior Jamie Burgasser pitches in WashU’s season opening weekend on Feb. 22 and 23. (Luc Neacy | Contributing Photographer)

The WashU softball team opened its season with four consecutive wins on Feb. 22 and 23, including three mercy-rule victories. The Bears defeated St. Catherine University 9-0 and 9-3, then defeated Coe College 10-2 and 12-0.

“They’re two very respectable programs and those were commanding and pretty dominant wins,” head coach Casey Cromwell said. “Not very many times in any opener do you go three of four in short games [in] five inning kind of situations, especially against opponents that are receiving votes for top 25 and [are] just really respectable programs.”

The cold temperatures kept the Bears indoors for much of the winter, forcing them to focus primarily on hitting and pitching rather than fielding skills, according to Cromwell. However, these limitations did not stop WashU from finding success in all facets of the game last weekend.

“We talked about it going into this weekend — that defensive errors [are] going to happen,” Cromwell said. “Those things are going to happen. But we need to lean on what we’ve been working on that translates seamlessly, which is pitching and hitting.”

In their first game, the Bears made quick work of the St. Catherine Wildcats. After a lead-off double in the second inning by junior Sydney Schneider, first-year Harper Nix’s sacrifice fly advanced Schnieder to third base, setting up Schnieder to steal home and score the Bear’s first run of the game. Nix went on to hit two RBI’s later in the game. 

Sophomore Kennedy Grippo, who got on base in all three of her at bats, hit a double and the first of her two RBIs in the second inning to bring the Bears’ lead to 4-0.

Senior Taylor Geluck scored two runs during the game, the first being a lead-off home run in the third inning to advance the Bears to a 5-0 lead. 

The last three runs of the game were scored in the fourth inning, putting the Bears in a position to mercy the Wildcats in five innings.

Senior Jordan Rossi pitched all five innings, allowing just two hits and two walks in 73 pitches. In addition to Rossi’s nine strikeouts, the Bears played a great defensive game, exhibiting no fielding errors.

Three hours later, the Bears returned to the field to face their second opponent of the day: Coe College. After two scoreless innings, the Bears found their rhythm. A single from Geluck to left field allowed Grippo to run home, putting the Bears up 1-0. 

At the next at bat, graduate student Dawson Dabboussi was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. A base clearing triple from senior Maggie Baumstark put WashU up 4-0. Baumstark was then able to come home with a single from sophomore Kristina Donaldson.

In the fourth inning Coe responded with two runs, but it would not be enough to threaten the Bears. 

In the top of the fifth, WashU put up five runs to seal the 10-2 victory in the five-inning game. Grippo and Geluck led the Bears in runs against Coe, while Baumstark’s triple gave her WashU’s highest RBI count of the game, at three.

The Bears finished the game with 17 hits, and senior Jamie Burgasser pitched the whole game in 90 pitches, allowing four hits in 21 at-bats. 

On Sunday, the Bears faced off against St. Catherine again, defeating the Wildcats 9-3 in seven innings. WashU got off to a quick start against St. Catherine at the top of the first. An up-the-middle single from Nix brought Dabboussi and senior Natalia Pilpil home to put the Bears up 2-0. From there the Bears didn’t look back, scoring in the second, third, and fifth innings. While the Wildcats tried to mount a surge in the sixth inning to make the game 7-3, it would not be enough. WashU secured two runs to end the game 9-3.

Nix led the Bears with three RBIs, while the runs were evenly distributed among nine different players. Two players saw the mound during the game: sophomore Hattie Bond pitched just over five innings, securing the win before being relieved by Rossi. The duo only let up nine hits and two errors across 122 pitches.

WashU secured its final win of the weekend later that day, defeating Coe 12-0 with only nine hits over five innings. The Bears started the game similarly to how they started the St. Catherine’s game a few hours earlier: getting on the scoreboard early. WashU put up four runs in the first, third and fourth innings of the Coe game. Grippo, Pilpil, first-year Christina Smith, and sophomore Elena Locascio each scored two runs. Baumstark led the team in hits with two, and in RBIs with three. 

Sophomore Maria Brooks pitched the entire game, giving up only two hits and one hit by pitch throughout the game. 

With the four wins, the Bears next compete against No. 11 Central College on Feb. 28 and March 1 and against Calvin University on March 1 as they prepare for conference play that will begin later in March.

In the run up to University Athletic Association (UAA) play, the team hopes to focus on living out their motto for the 2025 season — “[being] the standard.”

The team will begin its UAA season on March 21 against Case Western Reserve University who beat them out by one game to last season’s UAA title. Cromwell hopes to use the time to prepare and learn through mistakes to be ready for Case Western and conference play.

“We got to work out the kinks before we get to March 21 [and] for us, I think that’s going to be more defensive than anything,” Cromwell said. “I think failure is where you figure out what you need to work on. So we’re going to fail a little bit. … And you know, the biggest thing for us is to work through those failures and know how to come back from them, so that when they happen, if they happen, once we start UAA playing, especially opening up with Case Western, we can work through them.”