The Massachusetts softball team fell to the George Washington Revolutionaries in two of three games in its first homestand of the season. In the lone win, starting pitching and timely hitting led the Minutewomen (6-20, 1-5 Atlantic 10) to victory.
UMass defeated George Washington (18-10, 5-1 A-10) in the first game of the weekend, 3-1. The Minutewomen offense jumped all over the Revolutionaries’ Cece Smith in the bottom of the first inning. Sophia Thormeyer drew a full-count walk, then advanced to third from a Lily Woodworth double to right. Odyssey Torres cleared the bases with a double of her own, giving UMass an early 2-0 lead.
George Washington got one back in the fourth from a sacrifice fly from Emi Todoroki that scored Paige Hayward. The Minutewomen quickly regained a two-run cushion in the bottom of the inning off a sacrifice fly from Thormeyer that scored Angie Rama, who reached on a double.
UMass starter Julianne Bolton pitched a complete game, tallying six strikeouts and allowing six hits. Bolton’s outing on Saturday dropped her ERA to 3.46 and raised her strikeout total to 45 on the season en route to her third win.
“[Bolton is] one of our senior captains. She’s been doing great,” head coach Danielle Henderson said. “I have been really pleased with how she’s going out there and pitching for us.”
The Minutewomen comeback came up short in Sunday’s game as they fell 3-2. The Revolutionaries struck first, with Allison Heffley smacking a leadoff single on the first pitch of the game, followed by Kaylee Layfield’s RBI double in the right-center gap. Layfield doubled George Washington’s lead with a solo home run in the third. After the home run, Todoroki drove in Lilly Travieso with a double in the fourth, leading the Revolutionaries to hold a 3-0 lead late in the game.
In the bottom of the fifth and in desperate need of offense, Riley Kairer drew a walk to give UMass its second baserunner of the game. She stole second to put a runner in scoring position for Sarah Keagy, who ripped a line drive in the right-center gap to bring in Kairer. Rama followed the hit up with a single up the middle, driving in another run, cutting the Minutewomen’s deficit to one with two innings to go.
“We have a young team, and we have been working,” Henderson said. “I feel like that showed this entire weekend. I think we’re really close to being that team that can come back and turn that into a win. Early on in the season, it was the defensive end where we couldn’t hold on to a lead later in the game … we just have to be able to turn it around on offense.”
The Revolutionaries outlasted UMass in the second game on Saturday, winning 6-3 in 10 innings. The Minutewomen opened the game with three singles by Riain Keefe, Woodworth and Lydia Castro, with Castro’s hit driving in Keefe.
George Washington tied it in the fourth off a single by Carolyn Skotz that drove in Hayward, but UMass responded in the bottom of the frame. Kairer and Rama singled to put two runners on for Brooke Musch. Musch reached on an error, scoring Kairer. After a single by Keefe, Thormeyer drove in Rama with a single of her own to give the Minutewomen a 3-1 lead.
A Hayward RBI single in the fifth brought the Revolutionaries back to within one, and after Skotz drove in another with a single in the sixth, the game was tied. Neither team scored until George Washington exploded for three runs in the top of the tenth from a Skotz two-run RBI double and a single from Madie Hernandez that drove in Skotz.
“Every single game matters,” Henderson said. “We got to try to take every game, and you hope for the conference series wins … but you get any win that you can.”
UMass looks to get back in the win column on Wednesday, March 26 against Bryant. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m. at Conaty Park.
James Rust can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @James__Rust.
