The softball team battled intrastate foe Western Connecticut on Thursday, April 11, and walked off the field 7-0 victors. Wesleyan was flawless in the pitching department and quite impressive in offensive play, racking up 13 hits in the contest. This was just the second time out of nine meetings that Wesleyan has ever beaten Western Conn.
Pitching phenom Su Pardo ’16 struck out the first seven Colonial batters she faced. After the hot start, Pardo only cooled down slightly. She added five more Ks to her total and left the mound with 12 strikeouts in the contest and allowed just three hits. For the season, Pardo has registered 100 strikeouts in 69 innings of work and improved her record to 9-0.
The Cardinals opened the game with a leadoff triple from Allee Beatty ’13 to right field. Ashley McLaren ’13 reached on a fielder’s choice, earning the RBI when Beatty ran across home for the first run of the game.
To kick off the third inning, Tori Redding ’13 doubled to right center field. Next up, McLaren doubled to left-center field to bring home Redding and put Wes up 2-0.
The Cardinals blew off the lid in the sixth inning, stringing together seven hits and five runs. Beatty singled to the shortstop, Redding found an opening in the right side, and McLaren singled to the shortstop before powerhouse Jill Gately ’15 tripled to right field and brought home the three seniors. Amanda Roosa ’16 brought home Gately on an unassisted ground out to the first baseman.
Despite having already put four runs on the board, the Cardinals were not finished. Amy Lindland ’14 continued the barrage with a single up the middle, and two batters later, pinch hitter Julia Reed ’15 drove Lindland home to score the fifth and final run of the inning and eventually the game. Although Western players got one hit in the seventh inning and took advantage of a Cardinal error, they were unable to score, and the game ended with two players left on base.
“We are very happy with what we have accomplished so far this season. It is nice to see all the hard work in the off- season pay off,” Redding said. “For the final stretch we are focusing on playing loose and trusting all of that hard work we’ve put in so far. We have some big conference games coming up with Trinity this Wednesday and Amherst on the weekend, but we are not overlooking the non-conference games either. We take on Albertus Magnus in a doubleheader Monday night and are concentrating on coming out aggressive and using that game as a launching point for our NESCAC games.”
The Bates doubleheader originally scheduled for Saturday, April 13 has been indefinitely postponed due to weather. Up next for Wes is a slew of NESCAC games featuring Amherst, Trinity, and Middlebury. The Cardinal’s overall record stands at 18-6 with a NESCAC West record of 5-1.