The softball team erased the bad taste remaining in its mouth from losses in two of three games in last weekend’s doubleheader with Maryland by pounding Elon 10-2 in the opener before taking the second game 7-2 after offensive outbursts in the fifth and sixth innings during Tuesday’s late game.
Sophomore second baseman Alyssa Ishibashi, who hit home runs in both games, said it was good to get back on the right track after dropping the series with the Terps 2-1 on consecutive one-run losses.
“It feels good,” Ishibashi said. “Also because it’s a regional game, so it means a lot to us.”
The first game was a relatively quiet affair with the exception of the third inning when the Pack and Phoenix combined for ten of the game’s 11 total runs. It was Elon that struck first, scoring two runs on a home run by third baseman Patti Weber that drove in two runs after an error by the catcher allowed the lead-off batter to reach base despite striking out.
But the Pack’s bats responded in dominant fashion in the bottom of the third, driving in nine runs on seven base hits. The runs came on a pair of RBI singles by junior designated hitter Claudia Cooper and redshirt sophomore Lauren Peters, doubles to left field by two sophomores, one by third baseman Bridget Desbois and the other by shortstop Eliza Jacobellis, and a two-run homer by Ishibashi to end the third inning fireworks.
Pitching coach Leigh Ann Ellis said momentum was the key to the Pack’s offensive outburst.
“We did a good job feeding off one another and letting the momentum carry onto the next batter and then to the next batter,” Ellis said. “[Hitting so well] is something that we have been talking about but haven’t been doing yet.”
The offense cooled down considerably in the second game after putting up its highest scoring output of the season, ten runs, in the opener.
State was held scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning, which they entered trailing by two runs on a pair of solo shots by Elon.
The struggles against former Wolfpack pitcher Lauren Taylor, who started for Elon, ended in the fifth when Ishibashi broke open the floodgates with her second two-run home run of the day.
Ishibashi’s second home run, a two-run shot to center, came after a solo blast to center by junior right fielder Kristine Bechtholdt and gave the Pack a 3-2 lead.
The Pack provided four more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth on six hits for senior pitcher Mendy McKenzie. McKenzie got the win after entering the second game in the fifth inning and throwing three scoreless and hitless innings with five strikeouts.
Ishibashi said it seemed like one hit led to the other when asked to explain the offensive production in the fifth and sixth innings.
“I think we started off with hits,” Ishibashi said. “And we just carried the excitement on from one person to the next.”
According to Ellis, the team will look to build on its dominant offensive performance going into Thursday’s doubleheader vs. Radford, which is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
“Hopefully [today] will set a trend and we will build on this and use this as a basis to keep getting better,” Ellis said. “Thursday we should be able to pick up right where we left off and keep going.”
