First-year Emmy May slides in to home safely against Wartburg. (Max Silberg | Staff Photographer)

After facing Wartburg College last season in the NCAA Regional Tournament, the No. 16 WashU softball team won the rematch against Wartburg, 10-2 and 8-7 in a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 21 in St. Louis. With these two wins, the Bears moved to 4-0 on the season.

“Any win against Wartburg and teams of that caliber feels great,” head coach Casey Cromwell said. “They’re a talented team, they’re someone who has taken a game from us in a regional, and they’re really well coached. So yeah, any wins against Wartburg are a positive notch in a belt for us.”

WashU cruised to victory in their first game, handily defeating Wartburg 10-2. The Bears got out to an early lead, scoring six runs in the first two innings. A run from Wartburg in the third inning brought the score to 6-1. In the last two innings WashU combined for four runs while Wartburg only tallied one, sealing the game for the Bears.

First-years Julia Sullo and Emmy May led the Bears with two runs each while sophomore Harper Nix led the team in RBIs with three RBIs in as many at-bats. Junior Maria Brooks pitched all five innings and gave up six hits and only two runs.

Two hours later, WashU took to the field for their second game of the day. Wartburg got off to a quick start, scoring two runs in the first inning. A run from May off of a double from first-year Olivia Lauber put the Bears onto the scoreboard. For the next two innings the score did not change, with WashU trailing the Knights by one. 

In the fifth inning Wartburg found their stride, scoring three runs. However, WashU responded with a dominant fifth inning performance, notching five runs to surge ahead of Wartburg and enter the sixth inning 6-5. WashU scored two more runs in the sixth inning to move ahead to 8-5, and despite two runs from Wartburg in the top of the seventh, the Bears won the game 8-7.

Sullo and junior Elena Locascio led the scoring with two runs, and junior Kristina Donaldson led the Bears with three RBIs in four at-bats. Sullo also recorded two RBIs in four at bats.

Two WashU pitchers, first-years Jessi Szafoni and Ava Peterson, shared pitching duties in the first game. Peterson, in her collegiate debut, pitched four innings and only gave up two earned runs in 17 at-bats. Szafoni gave up two earned runs in one inning of work.

WashU’s first year class continued their dominant performance in their second weekend of play. Cromwell credited their maturity and ability to perform well in high pressure situations to their success. She also credited the upperclassmen for helping the first-year class adjust to WashU and collegiate softball.

“Our upperclassmen and returners are the reason that our first years feel that comfortable,” Cromwell said. “They’ve done a great job leading them, having conversations, talking about signs and talking about softball in general.”

WashU’s first four games of the season have shown off the Bears’ strong first-year class who has made an immediate impact at the plate and on the mound. WashU will continue its pre-conference competition with a double header against Grinnell College on Mar 1. The Bears last played Grinnell in the 2024 NCAA tournament, where they won 4-1.

Going into the game, the team is focusing on fine-tuning their communication and defense, according to Cromwell.

“It’s just communication that needs to be cleaned up,” Cromwell said. “So this week in practice is going to be a lot of you know, pressure situations fast moving, to have to talk when we get out, or it’s cold, so when we get outside, to put the pressure on our defense and make sure that our defense is clean for our pitchers and for our offense.”