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

WashU played a series of doubleheaders over the break, starting with the University of Wisconsin–Stout on March 8 and winning both games at the WashU Softball Field. The Bears then flew to California to play games on March 11 against Occidental College and won. Then, on March 14, there was another set of games against the No. 9 University of Redlands, where the Bears won one out of the two games. Entering the weekend on March 15, WashU played University of La Verne, winning one of the two games. The Bears won their final doubleheader series on March 16 against Whittier College to end the Spring Break schedule.

The Bears’ first game against the Wisconsin–Stout Blue Devils on March 8 started with a 2-0 lead after the second inning.

Another RBI was added in the fourth due to senior Erin Reardon’s single up the middle, bringing junior Alexa Hanish to home plate and increasing the lead to 3-0.

The Devils later responded with three RBIs in the sixth and seventh innings, but the Bears took advantage of some throwing errors to hold their own and finish the game off strong with a 6-3 win.

When the Bears played their second game against Stout, they started the first inning with an impressive performance, sitting at 6-0 after just one inning.

The scoring streak continued in the second inning, where a throwing error by the Devils’ shortstop gave first-year Harper Nix room to steal third base and later add another run to the score, bringing it to 7-0.

Stout made a comeback in the fourth inning, tying the game 7-7 after scoring two runs in the third and five runs in the fourth. However, the Bears responded. At the bottom of the seventh, junior Jamie Cendana doubled to left center field, allowing Nix to score again and seal a clutch 8-7 win.

On March 11, the Bears started their first game against Occidental in a doubleheader.

After the second inning, WashU had a 3-1 lead until the bottom of the third when Occidental tied the game 3-3 due to a Bears outfield error.

The Bears dominated the rest of the game, scoring three RBIs each in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, ending the game with a 12-4 victory.

For the second game of the day against Occidental, senior pitcher Jamie Burgasser demolished her batting opponents, only allowing one RBI for the whole game.

WashU was active from the start, with a 6-0 lead after the second inning due to Occidental’s poor ball control. Specifically, Cendana and senior Maggie Baumstark scored an RBI after a ground ball that Occidental unsuccessfully handled.

Senior Natalia Pilpil also contributed to the scoresheet when she homered a ball to left field, bringing in two more runs.

“I knew that the runner on first was going to be stealing, and I needed to hit this pitch to protect her,” Pilpil said. “I wasn’t 100% sure it was going out, but I knew I hit it well. I knew, at least, I needed to start running and get myself on second base. It’s always nice getting a hit to get the inning going and see more hits follow, see more runs get on the board, and ultimately see us get a good team win.”

The game ended with a 15-1 mercy-rule victory, with only five innings played.

After a four-game winning streak, the Bears took on the No. 9 University of Redlands for another doubleheader matchup on March 14.

The score was 1-1 after the third inning, but Redlands started to gain the lead in the fourth inning, adding three RBIs to the score, bringing it to 4-1.

The Bears attempted to make a comeback but didn’t have enough firepower, ending the game with a 4-2 loss.

Following the loss, the Bears aimed to redeem themselves in the day’s second game.

While WashU got off to a rough start, down 3-0 after two innings, they quickly tied the game 3-3 in the third thanks to their stealing-base abilities and Redlands’ throwing error.

After a back-and-forth battle, the Bears defeated Redlands 7-4.

The Bears had their fourth doubleheader of the week on March 14 against the University of La Verne, hoping to establish a winning streak again.

For the first four innings, the Bears remained scoreless as La Verne picked up a quick 3-0 lead. It was not until the fifth inning that WashU found a spark. Junior Sydney Schneider homered to right field, giving the Bears their first run of the game.

Soon enough, the Bears tied the game 4-4 in the seventh inning and also took the lead, scoring an additional four RBIs and taking an 8-4 lead.

After the scare of La Verne tying the game at the bottom of the seventh, the Bears pushed through and finished the game, winning 12-9.

The second game against La Verne was a tie game of 1-1 at the top of the second inning, but La Verne quickly striked, adding five RBIs — including a home run to the scoresheet — and bringing the score to 5-1.

WashU kept struggling to find an opening when batting, as La Verne’s pitching team put up a challenging fight.

While WashU kept getting on-base and rotating through their lineup, it was not enough to secure a win, as they succumbed to La Verne in a 7-1 loss.

The last two games for Spring Break were against Whittier College on March 16.

At the top of the third, Reardon hit a home run, adding two RBIs to the score. With other players hitting singles, the team had a 3-0 lead at the end of the inning. 

Whittier did respond in the fourth inning with one RBI, but WashU replied right back with one more RBI to top off their 4-1 victory.

The final matchup against Whittier occurred later in the day.

The Bears trailed 2-0 at the beginning of the game but found momentum in the third, landing on home plate four times to make it a 4-2 game.

For the rest of the game, Whittier was silenced as the Bears still had some fuel in the tank to finish the game with an additional two runs. The final score of the Spring Break matchup was 6-2.

“I’m proud of the turnaround we had from Saturday to Sunday, and [we] left California on a high, coming back to start the toughest part of our season: UAA play,” Head Coach Casey Cromwell said.

After finishing their Spring Break with an 8-2 record, the Bears plan to continue their winning streak when they play University Athletic Association (UAA) rival Case Western on March 21.

“The competition in California will help us for Case this weekend,” Cromwell said. “Opening up with Case Western is exciting and difficult, but we’re up for the challenge. The speed and caliber of hitters we faced in California are similar to those we will see this weekend in Case. There have been some defensive pieces we’ve been cleaning up recently, and I’m excited to see us put everything together this weekend.