The softball gods were not on GW’s side Sunday against St. Bonaventure, senior shortstop Tori Valos said.
Despite a hard-hitting effort, the Colonials (14-13, 0-4 A-10) dropped both ends of a doubleheader to the Bonnies (6-12, 2-3 A-10) this weekend, trounced 9-1 in the first contest and 6-2 in the second.
“We were hitting the ball hard. It just was going right to [the other team],” Valos said. “[We were] down a couple of runs, and [our hitting] just wasn’t timely or it wasn’t strung together as a team.”
Freshman pitcher Sarah Costlow (11-11) got the start in game one, but got into trouble early. Before GW could even secure its first out, its Atlantic 10 foe had already scored on a two-run single up the middle.
The Bonnies blew the game open their next time out, scoring five straight runs in the top of the second on four hits and two GW errors. Costlow was able to escape the inning and left three runners stranded, but the damage was done.
“The first game it was our defense, it was like it was non-existent. I don’t expect Costlow to be getting a ton of strikeouts, and she’s never been that way and our defense has to play behind her and they didn’t show up today,” head coach Stacey Schramm said.
Down 7-0, sophomore Paige Kovalsky came in to relieve Costlow in the top of the fifth only to give up two more runs. Sophomore Marissa Mangini scored GW’s only run of the game off of an error in the bottom of the fifth, but it was not enough to negate the mercy rule, which gave the Bonnies the 9-1, five-inning victory.
Schramm agreed with Valos that the lack of scoring, which didn’t improve much in game two, was not a product of bad hitting, but bad luck.
“Their outfielders could have just stuck their glove out, closes their eyes and still would have caught it,” she said. “Nothing was going our way and it’s frustrating because we needed those two wins.”
Costlow started in the circle once more in the nightcap and was able to hold St. Bonaventure to two scoreless innings, but got little help from her teammates at the plate.
Despite throwing a complete game with three strikeouts and only one GW error, Costlow would end up allowing six runs on 11 hits to close out a disappointing day. An RBI double from sophomore Megan Linn and an RBI single from Brandleigh Breland in the bottom of the fifth were the only signs of life offensively for the Colonials who still remain winless in conference play.
“The second game I just think offensively we didn’t do our job and that puts pressure on [Costlow] and the defense,” Schramm said. “I think she did her job, I was proud of the way she threw.”
A 16-game on-base streak also ended for Valos in the nightcap. The streak tied the mark set by former teammate Lauren Wilson for sixth on the all-time list.
The Colonials resume A-10 play next weekend at Massachusetts, but will play two midweek non-conference games against UMBC and Cornell.
“We’ve got to get some confidence,” Schramm said. “We just need to play well together as a team, be present, really show up not just to play the game but to compete.”