To earn their third straight series win, the UConn softball team won two out of three games over Georgetown at the Burrill Family Field.
The series opened on Friday where the Huskies took the double header sweep over the Hoyas. Junior Payton Kinney started in the circle for UConn in game one. She went for five innings and had seven strikeouts. Senior Meghan O’Neil came in relief for Kinney and closed out the 5-3 win for the Huskies. This was O’Neil’s first win of the season.
In the top half of the first inning of game one, Georgetown kick-started the offense with two runs off of an inside the park homerun. UConn rebounded right off the bat with two runs when freshman Grace Jenkins’ single to left brought home sophomore Lexi Hastings and graduate student Aziah James.
In the next inning, UConn would gain the lead with a three-run home run launched by Hastings. This was the outfielder’s second home run of the season, giving the Huskies a permanent lead.
Attempting to make a comeback, Georgetown scored a run in the third inning to cut Huskies lead but UConn’s pitching shut them down for the rest of the game with four score innings. UConn sealed the 5-3 victory in the first game of Friday’s double header against Georgetown.
Hope Jenkins started game two for the Huskies, she went for six innings and had one strikeout. After a rough second inning, she shut the door on the Hoya’s lineup and kept them scoreless for the next four innings. The freshman pitcher only gave up two hits.
With the bat of sophomore Rosie Garcia, UConn opened the scoring with a double to the right center field gap to score James. The Huskies jumped to a 1-0 lead. That lead would not last long for Connecticut as Georgetown responded with a five-run second inning. Four of those runs came off a grand slam.
The Huskies started their comeback efforts in the third inning with a double by junior Jana Sanden which brought in Hastings. This was Saden’s seventh double of the season, making the score 5-2 Georgetown.
In the fourth inning, the Huskies tied the game. Junior Taylor Zatyk got the Huskies going with a one-out single where she eventually scored the Huskies third run of the game. A single to left field by Garcia was the game-tying hit for UConn that scored Hastings and James.
To close out the game, O’Neil came in to relieve Jenkins in the seventh inning. However, Georgetown re-gained the lead 6-5 with a double off of O’Neil. That was the only run that O’Neil gave up before heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.
UConn started the inning with James getting walked, the tying run on the base. The next batter up, Garcia, was hit by a pitch which put Sanden up to bat. Almost ending the game, Sanden launched a double that hit the top of the right field wall to score James from second base. Grace Jenkins was next in the lineup, she came to the batter’s box with runners on second and third with no outs. The freshman catcher got the job done with a single that just passed the Georgetown third basemen and sealed the 7-6 walk off win for the Huskies.
Connecticut and Georgetown wrapped up the series on Sunday afternoon in Storrs. O’Neil started in the circle for UConn in the series finale. It was not the most productive outing for O’Neil as she pitched for just two innings, allowing five runs and five hits.
In the top of the first inning, Georgetown jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. The Huskies attempted to even out the score, threatening the Hoyas, but left runners stranded in the bottom of the first. Georgetown added another run in the top of the second inning, extending their lead over UConn to 2-0. Once again, the Huskies’ stranded the bases loaded and were not able to overcome the Hoya’s pitchers.
In the top of the third inning, Georgetown extended their lead to 5-0. Kinney came in relief of O’Neil for UConn and a double play by the Huskies ended Georgetown’s run.
To get UConn on the board, Makenzie Mason singled to left center field, scoring Grace Jenkins to make the score 5-1 Georgetown. The Huskies cut the lead even more after freshman Savannah Ring singled up the middle, bringing home Mason. Connecticut would finish the third inning down 5-2.
Kinney controlled the game for the Huskies and kept the Hoyas from scoring again. She pitched a total of five innings and only allowed one hit. UConn was never able to get runs on the board and lost the series finale to Georgetown 5-2. After Friday’s double-header sweep, Connecticut still took the services over Georgetown 2-1.
The Huskies had a lack of offense in the final game against the Hoyas after a bad defensive start but in a larger perspective, they have had a lot of production offensively. This series improved UConn’s record to 17-9 overall and 6-3 in conference play.
Connecticut will have a quick turnaround and be back in action against Boston University to face the Terriers on Tuesday, March 28. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m. The Huskies will play in Boston and have a short break from Big East action until they travel to Pennsylvania for a three-game series against Villanova this weekend.
