Cardinals Trap Squirrels In Softball Sweep

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Catholic University softball squad (6-4) began its home schedule on the right foot Saturday with a pair of wins, including a no hitter, over the Mary Baldwin College Fighting Squirrels (0-7).  The Cardinals won the first game 9-1 and blanked them in the second contest 10-0.  Both games of the doubleheader were only five innings with such a large CUA lead.  

The Cardinals came out and scored two quick runs in the bottom of the first but what really made the difference came in the second inning as CUA staged a six-run performance highlighted by some big hits.  In the second, Rachel Baker led off with a single before catcher Sophie Gage (Baltimore, Md./Mount de Sales) drove her home with another hit.  Heather Holley (Owings, Md./Northern), who had been walked earlier managed to steal home to make it two as batters kept finding ways to get on base.  Kerri Convery (Carmel, N.Y./Mahopac) singled to left field driving in two runs and Lynn Brown (Laurel, Md./Saint Vincent Pallotti) capped it off with a homer to score two more.  The Cardinals defense allowed a Mary Baldwin run in the top of the fifth, which would be the team's lone score of the day as CUA took the first game 9-1.

Gage went 3-3 at the plate in the contest while Brown was 2-3 with two RBI.  CUA had 10 hits to Mary Baldwin's one and the Cards committed no errors while the Squirrels had two.  In the circle, Steph Clemente (Warren, N.J./Immaculata) was awarded the win with three strikeouts and just four walks.

The second game of the day went just as well for the Cards as they once again relied on big hitting to secure a quick victory.  The second inning proved fruitful for the second time of the afternoon when CUA matched the first game's inning total with six runs, four coming off of a grand slam.  The offense scored the first run off of an error and the second from a fielder's choice but hit after hit kept players on base until pitcher Stacie Goddard (Nashua, N.H./Bishop Guertin) came to the plate a knocked one over the wall for the grand slam.  Even with the inning ending, CUA kept the momentum scoring one more in the third and three in the fourth making the final 10-0 after five innings.

Goddard had the all-around game for the Cardinals with the grand slam and the no hitter in the circle as the Cards managed nine hits and CUA allowed none.  Goddard also had seven strikeouts, the victory and the complete game for CUA.

The Cardinals will travel to Columbia Union tomorrow for another doubleheader to cap off the weekend.