The Hoyas have been close all season, but they’re still not quite there.
On Saturday the Hoyas (12-41) dropped two tough games in a doubleheader to Marshall (30-22), 6-3 and 8-2, continuing a trend of playing competitively but falling short against quality opponents.
“We made some errors and good teams like Marshall will take advantage of them,” Head Coach Pat Conlan said. “I think at this point in the program’s infancy stages, it’s very important to be competive.”
In the first game, the Hoyas showed the competitiveness that Conlan talked about. Down 6-0 heading into the seventh inning, Georgetown mounted a three-run rally to narrow the gap, but was unable to get any closer.
The rally began when freshman second baseman Jadig Garcia led off the inning, as she had many times before during the season, with a rally-inducing single. With runners on first and second, freshman outfielder Olivia Newhouse scored Garcia with an RBI fielder’s choice. Freshman catcher Suria Bahadue’s RBI single scored fellow freshman Samantha Peters to cut the lead to 6-2. Freshman pitcher Jennifer Connell then followed Bahadue with a sacrifice fly that scored Newhouse, but a pop out and a quick ground out ended the rally, and the Hoyas lost 6-3.
Connell pitched a complete game while allowing six runs on eight hits with four strike outs. Sophomore outfielder Christina Gallinari and freshman infielder Demetria Cipriano had Georgetown only base hits outside of the seventh inning.
The second game saw a breakdown of Georgetown’s usually stalwart defense. With the game scoreless in the third inning, arshall scored five runs on four hits and two Georgetown errors.
As they did all season, the Hoyas scrapped their way back into the game. In the top of the fourth, with Newhouse on second and two outs, Bahadue crushed a ball over the left-field fence for her first collegiate home run to cut the lead to 5-2. She became the seventh Hoya to hit a home run this season after no player recorded a four-bagger last year.
Marshall would respond with one more run in the bottom half of the inning and yet another in both the fifth and sixth innings for an 8-2 victory.
Connell pitched five innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits. Freshman pitcher Sarah Kamenski relieved Connell in the sixth and gave up two hits but no earned runs in one inning of work.
Despite the team’s subpar record, players said that that it was a relatively successful year for Georgetown, which tripled its win total from last season, the program’s first. Conlan said she is extremely excited about the future.
“I do not believe we can measure our success based on wins and losses,” she said. “I think we have another season or so before we can begin to do that. This year showed a tremendous amount of growth.”
All but one of the Hoyas’ regular starters will return next year, and with a new class of recruits, Conlan expects her team to continue to improve next season.
“Overall, we have a great deal of work to do,” Conlan said. “But with eight freshmen joining the program we will be able to improve in those areas and fill the holes in the lineup.
“This time next year I fully expect our season results to be different,” she added.
