The UConn softball team improved to 6-0 at Burrill Family Field this weekend after three wins over the DePaul Blue Demons.
The Huskies move to 13-22 overall but more importantly, 6-3 in the Big East, propelling themselves to fourth in the conference.
Here’s how they did it.
The first game of the doubleheader on Friday was a steady offensive attack paired with a stellar performance on the mound from Caprice Bohmer.
Connecticut got three in the second and three in the third before Ava Calciano belted a home run in the fourth to make it 7-0 Huskies.
DePaul had just one hit against Bohmer before a sixth-inning rally brought the Blue Demons within four. An immediate response from the Huskies came at the right time.
Kaitlyn Kibling hit a towering three-run homerun to right field, making it 10-3 Huskies. A few batters later, Haley Coupal’s single to right drove in Savannah Ring for the win. The mercy rule was enforced and UConn took game one of the doubleheader 11-3 in six innings.
Bohmer’s final stat line for Friday’s game was six innings, five hits, two walks and 11 strikeouts which matched her season and career high set earlier this season against Akron.
DePaul took an early 2-0 lead in game two thanks to a Chelsea Parker homerun to left-center field. UConn immediately answered with a Ring RBI single which drove in Kibling.
Parker struck again in her second at bat. On the first pitch she saw from starting pitcher Jessica Walter, she deposited another two-run homer dead center to make it a 4-1 game in the third inning. Connecticut answered again. With runners on the corner and less than two outs, Cat Petteys hit a fly ball to the warning track which Kibling scored from third on. The sacrifice fly made it 4-2 Blue Demons.
The stellar day continued for Parker as she singled in the fifth and later scored on an RBI groundout by Brooke Cwick. Parker went 3-3 with a walk, four RBIs and three runs scored. It was now 5-2 DePaul with only a few innings left for the Huskies to mount a comeback.
DePaul starter Bella Nigey was great through 4.1 innings but ran into trouble with multiple runners on. After a gritty at bat where she fought off many tough pitches, Coupal sent a 3-2 pitch down the right field line, scoring two and pulling the Huskies within one with runners on second and third.
Before the fans could catch their breath, Nigey threw a wild pitch, and Petteys was all over it. The 2025 Big East Freshman of the Year scampered home and slide safely into the plate for a 5-5 tie.
Moments later, Kaitlyn Breslin hit a sacrifice fly to right which scored Coupal and gave the Huskies their first lead of the game.
DePaul was quick to put pressure on the UConn defense in the top of the sixth. With no outs, Maya Wondaal on second and Madelyn Wilson at the plate, all signs pointed to a sacrifice bunt to move Wondaal to third.
Walter’s pitch was bunted into the air by Wilson and caught by Coupal coming in from first. Wondaal was running on contact and had to retreat to second. There was no infielder in sight for Connecticut as they we all shaded in playing the bunt. Enter Kibling from centerfield. In an incredibly heads up play, Kibling came hustling in from center to cover second base and Coupal’s throw beat the diving Wondaal for an electric double play.
Walter struggled to get the final out of the sixth and was taken out for Bohmer, who despite throwing 118 pitches just a few hours earlier, came in and struck out the last batter of the inning.
UConn got a huge insurance run when Calciano scored from third on a wild pitch to make it 7-5 Huskies. Bohmer avoided any threats in the seventh to earn the save, and the Huskies swept the double header from DePaul.
“That was our first comeback win of the season, and it was really great to see that fight that we could put up,” Walter said. “We got smacked in the mouth early and still found a way to come back, especially moving off the momentum of the first game.”
After a day off on Saturday, the Huskies came to play on Sunday afternoon.
Petteys got the party started with a two-run homer to centerfield in the first inning. That home run was number 10 on the year for her, she also tallied an RBI single in the second.
The Huskies got five more runs in the second thanks to RBI hits from Breslin, Coupal and Caylee De Meo. DePaul got one run in the third before Ring called game for the Huskies. It was the senior’s first home run since April 11 of last year and only the third of her career.
UConn swept the Blue Demons and outscored them 28-9 in the three games.
Bohmer had a phenomenal weekend, pitching in all three games. The freshman pitched 12.1 innings, earning two wins and a save, allowing four runs, five walks and just eight hits while striking out 18 batters.
Connecticut extends their win streak against DePaul to 10 dating back to 2023.
The next chance for the Huskies to protect their undefeated home record is next weekend against Villanova. The two teams will play Thursday, Friday and Saturday next week.