From Washington University Athletics
Senior Maggie Ingell went 4-for-5 and reached base in all eight plate appearances to lead the No. 17-ranked Washington University in St. Louis softball team to a pair of wins Friday afternoon at the 2014 University Athletic Association Championship in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
Washington U. defeated Brandeis University 9-4 in game one, and then held on for a 7-5 win over Case Western Reserve University in the second game.
Ingell also scored four runs in the sweep to become Washington University's all-time runs scored leader with 130. She broke the five-year old record of 129 set by Laura D'Andrea (2005-08).
#17 Washington U. 9, Brandeis 4
Washington U. scored a pair of runs in the first after Ingell drove
in the first run of the game and then scored on a wild pitch.
Brandeis answered back with three runs of its own off senior
pitcher Kelsey Neal on a solo home run by Madison Gagnon
and a two-run home run by Anya Kamber.
Neal settled down after giving up three runs in the first, while the Washington U. offense continued to click. The Bears sent 11 batters to the plate in the third inning scoring six runs on five hits. Freshman Halle Steinberg led off the inning with the first home run of her career to tie the score at 3-3.
Four-straight batters reached base after Steinberg's home run, including back-to-back RBIs by Ingell and Neal. After a walk by freshman Janet Taylor, graduate student Stacy Berg launched a towering three-run home run to center to push the lead to 8-3. The home run for Berg was her first of the season and 11th of her career. Washington U. added an insurance run in the sixth on an RBI single by Berg.
Berg was 2-for-4 with four RBIs, while Ingell went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, two RBIs and a walk. Junior Adrienne White (2-for-5, two runs scored) was on base three times in her first start in the leadoff position, while Steinberg (1-for-2, two walks, run scored, RBI) reached base three times.
Neal (3-1) picked up the win allowing five hits and three earned
runs in five innings pitched. Sophomore Amanda
Kalupa walked two and allowed one earned run in 1/3 innings
pitched, while sophomore Brooke Hofer pitched the final 1
2/3 innings allowing one hit. Washington U. had 11 hits in the
win.
#17 Washington U. 7, Case Western Reserve 5
Washington U. hit a season-high three home runs in the game two
victory over Case. Ingell gave the Bears a 1-0 lead with a home run
to center in the bottom of the first to make it 1-0. WUSTL
sophomore starting pitcher Annie Pitkin was perfect
through the first three innings of play, but a leadoff home run by
Molly O'Brien in the fourth tied the score at 1-1.
The Bears added a pair of two-run home runs in the fifth. Junior Paige Biles led off the inning with a bunt single, and then came around to score on a home run by White to make it 3-1. Ingell reached base for the third time in the game on a hit by pitch, and then Neal launched a home run to left center to push the advantage to 5-1.
Washington U. was not finished yet as the tacked two insurance runs in the sixth. Junior Sydney Caldwell ripped a double to center with one out to start the rally, and then Biles singled up the middle scoring Caldwell. White added a bloop RBI single to right scoring Biles to make it 7-1.
Case Western Reserve (9-5, 4-2 UAA) would not go away trailing by six in its last at-bat. The Spartans scored four runs off Hofer in the top of the seventh after an illegal substitution by Washington U., which took an out off the board. Pitkin replaced Hofer and after a single retired the final three batters to preserve the victory.
Pitkin (5-2) allowed three hits and one earned run in seven innings pitched. She had four strikeouts and did not walk a batter. Hofer did not officially record an out and gave up three hits and four earned runs. Biles (2-for-3, two runs scored, RBI) and White (2-for-4, three RBIs, run scored) had multiple-hit games for Washington U.