No. 17 Washington Softball Captures Share Of UAA Championship With 7-3 Win Over Rochester

No. 17 Washington Softball Captures Share Of UAA Championship With 7-3 Win Over Rochester

From Washington University Athletics

The No. 17-ranked Washington University in St. Louis softball team captured a share of the 2014 University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship with a 7-3 victory over the University of Rochester Saturday afternoon in Altamonte Springs, Fla.

Washington U. won its last three games in the UAA Championship to finish in a three-way tie with Case Western Reserve University and No. 9 Emory University with a 5-3 record. The UAA title for Washington U. is its eighth in school history, and first since 2009.

Senior Stacy Berg broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth inning with a solo home run to center. The home run for Berg was her second of the season and 12th of her career. After back-to-back walks to freshman Janet Taylor and junior Sydney Caldwell, freshman pinch-hitter Hannah Mehrle laced a triple down the right field line to clear the bases to make it 3-0.

Rochester (5-7, 2-6 UAA) answered back with two runs on four hits in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 4-2. The Bears added a run in the top of the fifth after Taylor was hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded.

Junior Alyssa Wilson singled to lead off the sixth for the Bears, and then senior Maggie Ingell provided two insurance runs with a towering home run to left. The home run for Ingell was her 26th in her four-year career, tying Liz Swary (2002-05) for second all-time in school history.

WUSTL added another insurance run in the seventh on an RBI single by Wilson to make it 7-3. Wilson finished the day 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Sophomore Annie Pitkin picked up her sixth win of the season (6-2) allowing six hits and three earned in 6 1/3 innings pitched in relief. Sophomore Amanda Kalupa made the start and allowed two hits in 2/3 innings pitched. Ingell was 3-for-4 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored, and raised her batting average to .585. She also moved into second on the WUSTL all-time hits list with 188.

As a team, Washington U. was first in the UAA Championship in pitching (2.14 ERA), fielding (.973 percentage) and third in batting (.297). Ingell tied for the tournament lead in hitting at .462 (12-for-26) with three doubles, two home runs and six RBIs, while senior Kelsey Neal (1.24) and Pitkin (1.89) were second and third in ERA. Freshman Kenzie James was fifth in the five-team team in batting average (.423) and led the tournament with four stolen bases.