The Maroon women’s softball team had an eventful spring break, playing 12 games in a week and going 7–5. The games were the first of the team’s season, so the team needed to quickly adapt to the competition. The team faced off against Calvin, Tufts, SUNY Fredonia, Oberlin, Williams, Carroll, Hamilton, Carleton, Wellesley, UW–Oshkosh, Farmingdale State, and D’Youville.
On their first day of competition, Chicago took two tough losses, both of which came down to the wire. In their first game against Calvin, the Maroons were up 3–1 in the final inning with only one out away from the win, but Calvin battled back, loaded the bases, and tied things up with a two-run single. Level at 3–3, the game went to extra innings, where the Calvin momentum continued with a two-run homer to make the game 5–3. The Maroons earned another run thanks to second-year shortstop Emma Nelson, but Calvin was able to close them out. In a low-scoring complement to their high-scoring game earlier in the day, the Maroons lost a tough battle to Tufts 1–0. Fourth-year pitcher Molly Moran stumped the Tufts offense, but the Maroon offense was similarly stifled by the Jumbos’ pitching. The game came down to the bottom of the seventh, when Tufts loaded the bases and batted in a run with a walk-off single. In her six innings, Moran held the Jumbos to one run, three hits, and one walk.
Day two fared much better for the team, with wins over SUNY Fredonia and Oberlin College. The first game of the day was another close one, with the Maroons making a huge late comeback to earn a 7–6 win. Fredonia led 4–0 after three innings and 5–1 after four, but the Maroons would not be swept aside. Third-year Maeve Garvey batted in a run in the fifth to bring the game to 5–2. Then third-year Carly Schulz scored on an error and Nelson earned another RBI. Third-year Serena Moss came in clutch with a homer to tie the game up. Fredonia went up 6–5 briefly, but their nerves got the best of them, and their pitcher walked two batters with the bases loaded, giving the Maroons the win. Schulz went 4–4 with three runs and Nelson finished 1–3 with three RBIs. After such a close fight, the Maroons came out ready to play and blew Oberlin out of the water 10–2. Moran was too much for the Yeowomen, holding them to three hits and earning six strikeouts. Moss led the offense, going 4–4 with three runs scored. Schulz, Nelson, and first-year Gabi Angellotti all had multiple RBIs.
Day three appropriately brought three games for the Maroons, and the team went 1–2 for the day. In their first game of the triple-header, Chicago faced off against Williams, and the Ephs barely escaped with a 5–4 win. The game, tied at 2–2, headed into the eighth, and it seemed the Maroons would take the win after second-year Holli Jones batted in two runs to give the Maroons a 4–2 lead. Unfortunately, Williams would not quit and earned two runs in the bottom of the eighth and finally won it with a two-out walk off home run. Schulz was consistent as ever, going 3–3 and Garvey 3–4. In their second game, the Maroons fell behind 6–3 quite quickly and, despite their best efforts, could not quite mount enough of a comeback to overcome the deficit and lost 7–5. Despite the earlier disappointments, the Maroons fought back in their final game of the day to defeat Hamilton 8–5. Moran earned the win and third-year Jordyne Prussak got the save, striking out the final batter. Five different Maroons had RBIs during the game.
After coming out on the losing end of a big comeback by Williams the day before, the Maroons turned the tables and came back from a six-run deficit against Carleton to win 8–7. Jones was the catalyst for the Maroon comeback, hitting a clutch three-run double and later scored when first-year Abby Hayes hit a double. Prussak earned another save, striking out the final three Carleton batters in succession.
In their final games of the trip, Chicago took a beating from UW–Oshkosh but rebounded and defeated Wellesley, Farmingdale State and D’Youville colleges.
