HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Elon University softball team suffered a 9-0 setback at the hands of Drexel in its opening round game at the Colonial Athletic Association Softball Championships on Wednesday afternoon, May 12, at Veterans Memorial Park.
The second-seeded Dragons (29-10) hit four home runs in the contest against the third-seeded Phoenix (17-20) to help their cause. It’s only the second all-time win in the series for Drexel over Elon, with the Phoenix now holding a 15-2 advantage all-time over the Dragons.
At the Plate
The Phoenix had one hit in the contest, which came in the fifth inning from pinch hitter Megan White. Ally Repko and Megan Grant both reached on walks for the Phoenix, who stranded three on base for the game. Both Repko and Grant extended their reached base streak to 19 and 14 games, respectively.
In the Circle
Kenna Quinn took the loss for the Phoenix, falling to 9-10 overall. Quinn was one of three pitchers that saw action in the contest for the Phoenix along with Kaitlin King and McKenzie Weber. Drexel’s Brooklyn Daly tossed a complete-game, one-hitter for the Dragons, allowing no runners to advance past second base.
The Rundown
The Dragons took a 2-0 lead after the first inning. Drexel’s Elena Woulfe drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the frame before the CAA’s Player of the Year Linda Rush drove her 15th home run out of the park to put the Dragons on the board.
Drexel added two more home runs in the bottom of the second. The Dragons’ Holly Bridgman connected on her second round tripper of the season with a one-out blast to left center. After a pitching change for the Phoenix, Drexel added its second dinger of the inning on another solo hit, this time off the bat of Hannah Walker, to increase its lead to 4-0.
After a scoreless third, the Dragons put up a five-spot in its home half of the fourth inning. Majority of the damage came off Drexel’s fourth homer of the contest, a one-out three-run blast to left center by Walker. A pair of Phoenix errors led to Drexel adding two more runs to the scoreboard to increase its advantage to 9-0 going to the fifth.
Elon was able to have a pair of runners reach in the top of the fifth on a one-out walk to Grant and White’s two-out single through the left side. Daly however induced the final out on a fly out to right, closing the door on a Phoenix rally to end the game after five via run-rule.
On Deck
The Phoenix returns to the field later this evening, facing fifth-seeded Hofstra in the loser’s bracket. That contest is scheduled for an 8 p.m. start.