Colgate women’s softball team continued its season this week, playing a three-game series against league rival Holy Cross. The Raiders entered the week looking to snap a five game losing streak. The Holy Cross Crusaders entered the weekend having dropped 16 of their past 20 games.

In the first game of the doubleheader, the Raiders were put in a hole during the first-at-bat, when Holy Cross outfielder Jackie Brewster hit a solo shot over the wall to give the Crusaders an early lead. The Raiders evened the score in the third when after stealing a base, sophomore catcher Virginia Irby was batted home by senior third baseman Holly Geranen to even the score at 1-1. It remained tied until the sixth inning when first-year utility player Olivia Laqua advanced to third on a bunt from first-year outfielder Mia Guevarra and made it home on a fielding error to give the Raiders a 2-1 lead.  

The Raiders extended the lead in the seventh when Geranen singled up the middle and Irby scored to make it 3-1. The Colgate defense held down the Crusaders for the final three outs and took the series opening victory. Colgate sophomore Jessica Hay pitched the entire game, improving her personal record to 4-6 on the season.

In the second half of saturday’s doubleheader, the Colgate defense continued to shine. First-year Bella Crow shined on the mound, pitching a seven inning shutout that included striking out seven of the Crusaders’ batters to improve to 4-14. The Crusaders’ defense looked sharp early as well until the fourth inning. Junior middle-infielder Meghan Romero singled and then advanced to second on an error before a Geranen bunt drove her to third and an error behind the plate by the Crusaders drove her home to put the Raiders on top 1-0. The game continued as a defensive battle until the top of the seventh when once again the Raiders were able to string together enough hits to cross the plate. With two outs, sophomore infielder Sabrina Odierno and sophomore outfielder Blake Brackett doubled to put players on second and third. A single from Irby then knocked in Odierno to make it 2-0 for the final score.

In the final game on Sunday, the Raiders once again came out strong defensively, but this time the offense followed as well. The Raiders opened up the scoring in the third with Romero scoring off a Geranen double and then sophomore outfielder Jordan Miller scored after junior utility player Pami White was hit by a pitch to make it 2-0. In the bottom of the sixth, Holy Cross managed to get on the board when a single up the middle drove in a run that would cut the lead in half. Colgate responded strongly in the next frame. Irby opened by doubling to center and then scoring on a Romero single. Romero would come home with Guevarra later in the inning off of a White double into right field to make the game 5-1 and complete the series sweep.

It was the first series win for the Raiders this season and and re-established the team’s upward trend. The Raiders improved to 12-28 on the season and 7-9 in league play while the Crusaders fell to 11-31 overall and 4-12 in the league. The Raiders have two doubleheaders this week as they wrap up their non-league schedule with two games at Syracuse on Wednesday before hosting Boston University on Saturday in a double header and a series finale on Sunday.

Contact Gideon Hamot at [email protected].