The chilly 52-degree weather in Farmington, Va., was nearly as cold as Georgetown’s offense as Longwood shut down the Hoyas twice this weekend in a doubleheader. In the first half of the doubleheader, the Hoyas (8-33) managed six hits, but were unable to score.
Longwood opened up the scoring in the bottom of the third inning, scoring four runs on four hits and one defensive error by Georgetown.
Down 4-0 in the fifth, Hoyas freshman pitcher Jennifer Connell singled to lead off the inning. Junior Christine Calabrese followed that up with a single of her own to give the Blue and Gray two runners on base with no outs. But Longwood pitcher Rachel Mills made three outs to end the Georgetown scoring threat.
The Lancers scored two more runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 6-0 lead. Georgetown would try to stage a rally in the top of the sixth, when freshmen Jadig Garcia led off the inning with a single to right field.
Fellow freshman Samantha Peters followed that with a double to left field, to put Georgetown runners on second and third base with no outs. Just as in the fifth, Mills was able to retire the next batters to get out of the inning without giving up any runs.
Neither team would score again to leave the final score at 6-0. Freshman pitcher Jennifer Connell pitched six innings, surrendering four earned runs on seven hits.
In their first full season of play as a program, the Hoyas appear to be hobbling down the home stretch, having lost their last 11 games. But Head Coach Pat Conlan points to the caliber of Georgetown’s competition as the reason for the team’s recent struggles.
“We have also played some very tough competition in aryland, Longwood and Liberty,” she said. “I won’t take anything away from the teams we played. They had more experience, depth, and flat out played better than we did,” she said.
In the second game, Georgetown’s offensive problems did not get any better, as they only managed one hit in an 8-0 loss. Georgetown freshman third baseman Demetria Cipriano led off the game with a single to left field, but that would be the entirety of Georgetown’s hitting.
Longwood would score two runs in both the first and the second innings to take 4-0 lead. One run in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth rounded out the final score.
As the season heads into its final weeks, Conlan reflected on areas where the Hoyas stand to improve for next season. “The team will already be better next year because we will have experience on our side,” she said. “
Despite our record, I think we have had a very successful season. We have learned a great deal more from our losses than we have with our wins. Hopefully that will carry over into the future.” But before it can think too seriously about the future of the program, Georgetown will travel through the Northeast for three doubleheaders this weekend.
They will play La Salle on Friday, St. Peter’s on Saturday and Fairfield on Sunday.
