For the first time in her career, junior Courtney Martin pitched a complete game shutout, going all seven innings against the Dayton Flyers and holding them to just three hits.
That performance was good enough for a solid day on the rubber. But she wasn’t done.
Martin would maintain that shut out into the first five innings of the second game of the series, leading the way to a doubleheader sweep for the Colonials.
“Oh my God, [Martin] did outstanding. She did so well the first game. She just kept the hitters off balance,” head coach Stacey Schramm said.
Martin’s dominance propelled GW into a first-place tie with Saint Joseph’s at the top of the Atlantic 10 with four games left to play in the season.
After splitting with La Salle (15-27, 3-15 A-10) in a doubleheader on Wednesday, GW (25-18, 12-4 A-10) took the field to compete in a quick two-game series against the Flyers (20-22, 10-9 A-10).
In the series opener, GW used strong offensive and defensive play to put away the Flyers, capturing a 4-0 victory. Martin’s fast pitches and fixed concentration ruined any chance the Flyers had of making it on the scoreboard.
A homerun and all four RBIs from senior Autumn Taylor was enough on the offensive side to support Martin for the win.
“It’s [Taylor’s] senior year, so she’s trying to go out with a bang,” Schramm said. “She only has a few games left and she’s just working hard like everyone else.”
In the second game of the doubleheader, a first-inning single to left field by sophomore Samantha Dos Santos with the bases loaded helped the Colonials get out to an early 1-0 lead against Dayton.
But in the next two innings, GW could not produce any runs. The Flyers easily handled line drives, and with the additional strikeouts thrown by Dayton freshman Emily Froment, the Colonials failed to make it on base.
“Their pitcher did a good job. She had a decent number of walks, and the players did a good job of shutting our hitters down,” Schramm said. “We were having good at-bats and we were making her throw a lot of pitches, but we just couldn’t get anything going offensively in the game as far as stringing some hits along.”
Shaky pitching at the onset of the fourth inning finally allowed the Colonials on base. Freshman Carlee Gray scored on a walk from senior Amanda Zakeri, and senior Tara Fogarty singled to right field, leading to a second Dos Santos run, and a 4-0 lead.
The Colonials then came out in the fifth inning and protected their lead with some strong defense and insurance runs.
“Defensively we played really well. They had a lot of fly outs and a lot of pop-ups off of Courtney [Martin], so our kids were ready for it. They executed everything we worked on in practice everyday,” Schramm said. “There was really no stress and no worry today because I always know defense can make the next play.”
Martin started again for the Colonials during the second game, throwing another five solid innings before being relieved by freshman Meghan Rico, who allowed only one hit in the final two innings to clinch the victory. Martin pitched a total of 12 shutout innings over the doubleheader.
The Colonials will take on non-conference rival Georgetown on Tuesday, which Schramm said could be practice for future A-10 match-ups.
“I don’t want to say we’re looking beyond Georgetown, but we’re just shooting Georgetown as a way to prepare for next weekend in our big conference games against Temple and St. Joe’s,” Schramm said.
