Sophomore Kennedy Grippo at bat in an early season game. (Ben Gondzur | Staff Photographer)

The No. 10 WashU softball team are University Athletic Association (UAA) champions for the first time since 2017 after sweeping Emory University on May 9 and 10. The Bears comfortably won their first conference title since 2017 with a record of 17-1 against UAA teams. WashU was also the only UAA team with a win percentage over .750.

In their first game against the Eagles, WashU quickly took the lead in the bottom of the first inning after a double from senior Taylor Geluck allowed senior Natalia Pilpil to score, putting the Bears up 1-0. 

The score sat at 1-0 until the fifth inning when a triple from senior Maggie Baumstark scored junior Alexa Hanish to extend the lead to 2-0.

In the sixth inning, Emory responded with two runs to bring the scoreline to an even 2-2. However, WashU pulled ahead with a single from sophomore Kristina Donaldson, sending senior Brooke Capparelli home, and Geluck scored off of a single from sophomore Kennedy Grippo. This brought the score to 4-2, giving WashU their first win of the series.

Senior Jordan Rossi pitched the entire game, recording three strikeouts.

In its second game, WashU quickly took the lead over the Eagles and never looked back. The Bears tallied eight runs in the second inning, including two runs by Geluck. Graduate student Dawson Dabboussi, Donaldson, junior Sydney Schneider, senior Erin Reardon, and Capparelli all recorded one run.

In the fourth inning, sophomore Elena Locascio scored on an Emory throwing error and first-year Christina Smith notched the Bears’ last run of the five-inning game off of a single from Donaldson. Emory was unable to respond throughout WashU’s 10-0 victory.

Senior Jamie Burgasser pitched the five inning game, recording six strikeouts across 92 pitches.

The Bears started slow in the third and final game of the season but broke through the pitchers’ duel. In the fifth inning. First-year Harper Nix hit a single, advancing Baumstark to third and Grippo to home to put the Bears up 1-0. It would be the only scoring play of the game that the Bears won, completing the Bears’ series sweep. Sophomores Hattie Bond and Maria Brooks shared the mound in the final game, with Bond pitching the first four innings before being relieved by Brooks. Bond notched three strikeouts across four innings and Brooks notched one across three.

With these wins, the Bears finish the regular season with a 32-5 overall record, the first season with over 30 wins since 2022 and a 17-1 record in conference play. The Bears will host Wartburg College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on May 15. The Knights were scheduled to play WashU in their season opener, however, the game was cancelled. Wartburg received an at-large bid to the tournament with a season record of 24-15 and a conference record of 11-5, including a loss to Nebraska Wesleyan University in the semifinals of the American Rivers Conference Tournament.