Despite being on the road, Emory’s softball team swept a doubleheader against Birmingham-Southern College (BSC) (Ala.) to improve their record to 31-6. The wins solidified Emory’s fourth straight season of winning 30 games or more. Both contests ended in a 2-1 result in favor of the Eagles.
“Picking up the two wins were really important for us because we have struggled to keep teams to only a few runs,” junior Micah Scharff said. “[The wins] just showed us that when we are a complete team, we are unbeatable,” she continued.
The first match up of the day proved to be a tight challenge, as the majority of the game was tied at one run apiece.
But in the top of the sixth inning, senior Lauren Gorodetsky made it home after senior Claire Bailey hit a single.
Senior Megan Light contributed to the win with three out of the Eagles’ 10 hits and an RBI that brought senior Ally Kersthold home.
On the defensive end, senior Amanda Kardys pitched all seven innings, striking out one batter and allowing just five hits.
“Our pitching really came through at BSC, and our defense was really strong behind them,” Light said.
With only four more teams to play in regular season, Emory hopes their winning record will solidify their place in post-season play.
“We’re starting to play more and more ranked teams in our region, and we know these are really important games to win for us to get our bid to post season,” freshman Alyssa Pollard said.
The second game of the day also proved to be a nail-biter after three innings of scoreless play.
Light again proved an essential part of the offensive climb with a home run during the top of the fourth inning, accounting for the only two runs that Emory tallied for the game. Light’s homer also allowed her to tie her own record for most home runs in a season.
During the bottom of the fifth, the BSC Panthers fought back to cut their opponent’s lead in half. But the single run was not enough as Emory finished with another 2-1 victory over BSC.
Emory’s pitching duo, made up of freshman Brittany File and Kardys, competed relentlessly to allow a total of four hits. File hurled the first five innings striking out five batters, while Kardys tossed the last two innings.
“So far this season, we’ve had to fight a lot of adversity especially dealing with injuries within our team,” Pollard said. “We’ve had to call on a lot of people to step up to fill in positions,” she continued.
Emory looks to sweep another doubleheader during their upcoming match-ups against Covenant College at home on Tuesday, April 8.
“Moving forward, we know we have to get our hitting, pitching and defense all in sync to be most successful,” Light added.
– By Zoe Elfenbein
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
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