After a season plagued by injury, the softball team was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention last weekend. The Cardinals spent the weekend in western Massachusetts, where they were swept by a first-place Williams team that has shown few signs of weakness all year. During the weekend as a whole, the Cardinals were outscored 26-4.
The two squads first met on Friday for the first game of their three-game set, which ended in a 7-1 Williams defeat. Su Pardo ’16 took the mound for the Cardinals and pitched well from the outset. Pardo held the Williams hitters hitless through her first 2 and 2/3 innings, before allowing a two-out double in the bottom of the third. Pardo then induced a ground ball back to her that should have ended the inning. However, she misfired on the throw to first, allowing the runner to reach. On the same play, right fielder Annalie Walsh-Costello ’17 and third baseman Jill Gately ’15 also committed errors, allowing both the runner from second and the batter to score on the play, putting Williams up 2-0.
That third inning fielding drama set the tone for the rest of the game; the Cardinals would commit two more costly errors over the course of the game. At the end of her six innings of work, Pardo had surrendered seven runs, but only one was earned.
The Cardinals couldn’t do much in terms of offensive reciprocation; they scored just one run all game, when Abby Rutt ’17 singled to plate Gately in the top of the fourth.
The two teams returned to the diamond on Saturday for their second of the three contests. Taking the hill for Wesleyan in her second pitching outing since returning from a concussion was Amanda Roosa ’16.
Roosa pitched well, easily earning what should have been three outs without incidence against the first three batters she faced in the top of the first. However, the Wesleyan defense struggled once again, committing three errors in the top of the first to let Williams get on a roll. Roosa fought through the defensive lapses, surrendering runs on a throwing error by Gately, a bunt single, and a bases-loaded walk. She began to show signs of tiring after recording her second out; she gave up a three-run triple, followed by an RBI single. She was pulled from the mound and sent to second base before finishing the inning.
The Cardinals never really recovered from the massive defensive lapse in the first. Rutt put a run on the board when she homered in the top of the second, and Captain Alex Sarkowsky ’14 contributed a two-run double in the fourth. However, that was all the scoring the Cardinals would manage in the second game. Williams rode the Cardinal errors to an 11-3 victory in five innings.
Pardo took the mound again for the Cardinals in the third game of the series. Again, Wesleyan was put in a hole early by poor defensive play. Two errors in the bottom of the first gave way to a quick 2-0 lead for Williams. From that point forward, Pardo was able to hold Williams at two runs until the bottom of the fifth.
In the meantime, the Wesleyan offense could do little to get itself back in the game. The Cardinals mustered four hits heading into the bottom of the fifth when Williams blew it open.
All nine batters Pardo faced in the inning reached base safely on seven hits and two walks. Williams clinched the game with a walk-off RBI single to secure an 8-0 lead. That triggered the mercy rule, and Williams finished the series sweep.
Wesleyan, which has dealt with several injuries to key players and the inexperience of an extremely young roster, saw its NESCAC record fall to 2-9. Already eliminated from postseason contention, the Cardinals will close out NESCAC play when they resume a previously suspended game against Amherst on Tuesday, April 22.