First-year Jessi Szafoni allowed just two hits in her first collegiate start. (Bobby Kaplan | Staff Photographer)

The No. 24 WashU softball team had just 11 practices this spring to prepare for their season opener. Still, the Bears swept opponent Illinois College, 8-1 and 3-2 respectively, on Sunday, Feb. 15.

“It feels great,” head coach Casey Cromwell said of the win. “We haven’t had a ton of practice. We’ve been outside a couple of times. So we were excited about some of the things that we’ve seen in the first, like, 10 or 11 practices that we’ve had, but we were excited to get on the field and see what we need to go back on and work on.”

The Bears entered the 2026 season coming off one their most successful seasons in recent memory. The Bears went  17-1 in conference play in 2025, won their first University Athletic Association (UAA) title since 2017, hosted the Super Regional and regional rounds of the NCAA tournament and advanced to the Regional Final. 

WashU began the weekend with a dominant 8-1 win over the Lady Blues. After trailing Illinois College by one in the first four innings, the Bears scored seven runs in the fifth inning to pull ahead 7-1. One more run in the sixth secured the first win of the Bears season. 

All eight runs were scored by different players, showing the Bears’ depth on Opening Day. In her first collegiate start, first-year Jessi Szafoni pitched all seven innings, threw five strikeouts, and gave up no earned runs.

Less than an hour after their win, WashU returned to the field for their second game of the afternoon. After giving up a run in the first inning, the Bears responded with a home run from first-year Emmy May to tie the game 1-1 in the fifth. The Lady Blues responded in the fifth with a home run to go ahead 2-1.

Behind 2-1 at their final turn at bat, WashU found its groove in the final frame. After first-year Katie Fung and senior Sydney Schneider reached base, first-year Julia Sullo hit a double to tie the game at two. Two batters later, junior Kennedy Grippo hit a single to send Fung home and clinch a doubleheader sweep. 

Junior Hattie Bond pitched all seven innings for the Bears, giving up only two earned runs and punching out four batters.

The season opener showed the depth of WashU’s new first-year class in their collegiate debuts. Two first-years, May and Szafoni, both were named University Athletic Association Player of the Week in their collegiate debut.

“Our returners have done a fantastic job leading this group of first-years, but this first-year group was supposed to be impressive,” Cromwell said. “[The first-years] are supposed to come in and make an impact. … If you didn’t see a highlight from one of those first-years today, I think you’ll see it next week, or, you know, it’s soon to come, at least.”

WashU will continue its pre-conference play against Wartburg College and Greenville University on Feb. 21 before facing Wartburg and Millikin University on Feb. 22. Going into the busy weekend of games, the Bears will emphasize giving their pitching staff more on field experience and opening their focus, according to Cromwell.

“Wartburg is fast, they like to run, and they like to create chaos,” she said. “One thing that stood out to me was [our] communication and the relays in and some of the faster, high paced things that happened, I think we get a little narrow focus, … so being able to listen and communicate when things get crazy [is our goal], and [Wartburg is] going to create chaos next weekend.” 

Cromwell’s goals for the season are not only to win the UAA, a feat they accomplished for the first time since 2017 last year, but also to advance past the first round of the regional tournament. The Bears open UAA play on March 20 against Case Western Reserve University. They will also face ranked opponents No. 8 Texas Lutheran University, No. 9 East Texas Baptist University, the No. 11 University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, and No. 15 Emory University this season.

“I think we’re trying to get past that first round of regionals,” Cromwell said. “This the senior class last year had gone to a regional three times. So I think the big thing for us this year is we want to win first and foremost. We put our focus a little bit closer. We take care of it week by week.”