Two local teams had the GW softball team’s number Saturday afternoon at the Mount Vernon Athletic Complex, as Georgetown and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County defeated the Colonials in their opening games of the fall preseason. The Hoyas took the first game 6-2 while the Retrievers won the second game 7-5.
Coach Kim Staehle said she was happy with her team’s play despite the losses.
“I was pretty pleased with what I saw out of our team today,” Staehle said. “These games are about seeing what we have to work on. We hit the ball hard all day but unfortunately right at the other team.”
Staehle also said she has high expectations for the team, which has seven returning starters. The Colonials are coming off their best season in program history, a 23-27 campaign that qualified them for the program’s first-ever Atlantic 10 tournament.
In the first game, the Colonials (0-2) struck first, thanks to an RBI single by senior co-captain Colleen Kegler in the third inning. The Hoyas responded an inning later, and both teams tallied in the sixth innings.
The seventh and final inning was when Georgetown did its damage, scoring four runs that GW could not overcome.
Runs came easier to the Colonials in game two. After trailing 4-1 in the third inning, redshirt sophomore Elisa Van Kirk found herself at the plate with the bases loaded. The catcher was looking for just one run but ended up hitting the ball out of the park.
“I was thinking sacrifice fly, with less than two outs and a runner on third, but I got a hold of that pitch,” Van Kirk said.
The grand slam gave the Colonials a short-lived 5-4 advantage, as the Retrievers tied the game with a run in the bottom of the inning and scored twice more in the sixth.
Senior co-captain Caroline Howe and senior Katie Miller, game two’s starting pitcher, both said that they thought the team looked rusty in the double-header. And for Howe, there’s extra motivation.
“The seniors are looking to go out with a bang,” she said.
GW continues its season this Saturday with a triple header in College Park, MD.
