Softball (33-21, 16-10 Atlantic 10) dropped two of three games during the A-10 conference tournament at the Mount Vernon Campus athletic complex last week after finishing fourth in the regular season standings.
The Revolutionaries defeated Saint Joseph’s 2-1 on Wednesday before falling to Dayton 2-0 and Saint Joseph’s 6-1 Thursday in the tournament’s double elimination format. The team’s failure to score runs, posting just three runs over the three games, ultimately led to their early exit from the A-10 tournament.
The Vern hosted all 10 games over the four day tournament, where Saint Louis ultimately took home the championship. The Revs last hosted the conference softball tournament in 2016, where they fell to Massachusetts and Saint Louis, and Fordham took home the trophy. They last won the tournament in 2021, when they also secured the regular season conference championship title.
The Revs struggled to string hits together throughout the three games they played in the tournament, failing to get a hit against Dayton’s First-Team All-Conference pitcher Izzy Kemp until the final inning, while also stranding 13 runners in their final game against Saint Joseph’s.
In a three-game series between April 18-19, Saint Joseph’s swept the Revs in Philadelphia, Pa., with the Revs scoring just two runs over the three game series compared with Saint Joseph’s 11 runs.
This time around, the Revs were able to squeeze out a victory during their rematch in the first game of last week’s tournament due to their balanced pitching performance. After leaving the bases loaded in the first inning, the Revs capitalized in the next frame on a lead-off single by graduate student Carolyn Skotz, who would go on to score the first run of the game on a fielder’s choice later that inning.
Saint Joseph’s bounced back in the third inning, tying the score up 1-1 off a solo homer from freshman Hailey Peterson. In the fifth inning, sophomore Cadence Gilliland hit a lead off single and scored the game winning run off an RBI single from graduate student Madi Mays.
The 2-1 victory advanced the Revs to the next round where they faced the regular season conference champion, Dayton.
Thursday’s first contest opened on a diving catch from All-Conference First-Teamer Dayton senior Emma Schutter. The game featured a pitcher’s duel between Kemp and A-10 Pitcher of the Year graduate student Anna Reed. Reed gave up a two-run homer in the fourth inning, the only scoring play of the game.
Kemp collected 17 strikeouts in the game, pitching a no-hitter through six innings until Gilliland hit a single in the seventh and final inning. After a HBP and a walk, the Revs had the bases loaded and the tying run at second base. However, graduate student Carolyn Skotz was unable to capitalize, grounding out to end the game.
The loss to top seed Dayton sent the Revs to an elimination game rematch against Saint Joseph’s Thursday afternoon.
The Revs took an early lead in the first inning thanks to an RBI single from freshman Emi Todoroki. While they led for most of the game and amassed 10 hits, they left at least one runner on base in each inning.
Their lead held throughout most of the game until the Hawks rallied to post three runs in the sixth inning, matching that total in the seventh inning to take the game 6-1 and ending the Revs’ season.
Last season’s team went 12-14 in the conference and failed to make the conference tournament, which only includes the top six teams. This season was the Revs’ fifth 30 win regular season in program history.
Along with Reed, the A-10 named junior Ashley Corpuz First Team All-Conference and graduate student catcher Allison Heffley Second Team All-Conference.
This year’s team broke the program record for the most shutouts in program history, with 14 shutout games, as well as the strikeouts, with 314.
