For the Georgetown softball team, a jam-packed slate of games in South Carolina last week became anything but a trip to remember.
The Blue and Gray played eight games, including four in the Lowcountry Invitational in Charleston, S.C. and doubleheaders against the College of Charleston and Coastal Carolina, but managed only one win in those eight contests. Their 1-7 performance leaves them with a season record of 3-15.
The invitational began March 4 for Georgetown with an early-morning game against UNC-Wilmington. Junior Mackensey Carter pitched seven innings for the Hoyas, allowing 11 hits and three earned runs while striking out seven and walking only two. The offense sputtered, though, as it mustered only five hits — three by junior first baseman Cara Savarese — and pushed no runs across the plate for the fifth time this year in a 3-0 loss.
The Georgetown bats came to life against Charleston Southern in the second game, but this time it was the Hoya pitching staff that struggled as the Buccaneers pushed eight runs across in an 8-6 win. The Blue and Gray jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to sophomore catcher Shikara Lowe’s third homer of the season and held leads of 1-0, 4-2 and 5-4, but Charleston Southern battled back each time and took the lead for good with a four-run bottom of the fifth.
In Saturday’s first game, senior pitcher Melissa Conners threw a complete game and junior right fielder Reagan Page went 2-3 with an RBI, but it wasn’t enough as Georgetown lost to USC Upstate, 3-1. Saturday’s second game was a rematch against UNC-Wilmington, and this time around the Hoyas came out on top. Georgetown took an early 1-0 lead in the first when freshman shortstop Alexandra Antilla was hit by a pitch, stole second, moved to third on a single by Lowe and scored on a single by Savarese. The Seahawks answered with a run in the second, but the Hoyas pushed the eventual game-winning run across in the fourth when Page’s sac fly scored sophomore pinch-runner Kelly Cianciotta.
The Hoyas then travelled to Mount Pleasant, S.C. to play a doubleheader against the College of Charleston Cougars. Unfortunately for the Blue and Gray, they were not able to build upon the momentum of beating UNC-Wilmington in their previous game and scored just one run in the two games, losing by scores of 1-0 and 3-1, respectively. Conners was the hard-luck loser in the first game, giving up one fifth-inning run as the offense registered a paltry four hits, all in the first three innings.
Carter returned to the mound for the second game, yielding three runs in six innings. She also contributed at the plate, driving in the Hoyas’ lone run on her first homer of the season. She continued her hot hitting the next day in a doubleheader against Coastal Carolina, going 4-7 on the day, but Georgetown still dropped both games, 4-1 and 5-1, respectively. Savarese, who had been named to the Big East honor roll following her 8-for-13 performance in the Lowcountry Invitational, scored the Hoyas’ lone run of the first game while Antilla drove in sophomore outfielder Callie Eward for Georgetown’s only run of the second game.
The Hoyas play their first home games of the season today as part of a doubleheader against Princeton. First pitch for the opener is set for 3 p.m. at Guy Mason Field and will be followed by a 5 p.m. start.
