Great pitching, solid defense lifts JCU

The John Carroll University’s women’s softball team entered last Wednesday’s game in fifth place in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The team directly above them was their opponent last Wednesday, Capital.The JCU squad was coming off back-to-back wins over Wooster in which they displayed the terrific defense that has been a constant all year.

In the first of the two games, it was a defensive battle with pitchers from both teams dominating. Sophomore Samantha Thompson pitched a complete game, allowing only five hits and one run.

The Blue Streaks offense did not help her until thunder struck in the top of the sixth inning.

The first two Blue Streak runs were scored by senior Kelly D’Amato and sophomore Julie Marlowe on a wild pitch that was then followed by an error.

Junior Jamie Smrdel ended the sixth inning with a solo home run to give JCU a 3-0 lead. Smrdel ended up going 2-3 from the plate. The home run by the catcher was the 20th of her career and tied a JCU record.

Smrdel was quick to brush off the individual attention, shifting it back to her team. “Individual records do not matter to me. I am trying to help the team win and that is that is the thing I am most concerned with,” she said.

JCU looked like they had the game in control, but Capital would give the Blue Streaks a scare. The Crusaders loaded the bases with only one out and looked to cash in, but they managed just one run. Freshman right fielder Jamie Colley gunned out a Crusaders runner at home plate on a run-scoring base hit to minimize the damage.

Capital could not take advantage and the win was sealed for JCU when senior Bethany Bachman added an insurance RBI in the top of the seventh inning to extend the lead to three. This margin would stand as the Blue Streaks would go on to win the game by a final score of 4-1.

Thompson was again brilliant on the mound in game two, but the offense provided little help, recording just five hits.

The only run JCU could manage came from an error in the third inning. D’Amato took advantage of the wild pitch and scored from second base.

Thompson gave up seven hits and allowed just two runs in five and two-thirds innings.

The Crusaders tied the game with a single run in the fourth and scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth from a two-out base hit.

JCU is now 10-14 overall and 6-4 in the OAC. The Blue Streaks played Otterbein who is 4-6 in the OAC last night. Games like these against a team in the basement of the league standings are extremely important for the Blue Streaks to win in order to improve their seeding for the conference tournament.

The Blue Streaks are four games behind OAC leaders Mount Union College and Muskingum College in the loss column. JCU is currently in fifth place. This is a pivotal position because home field advantage in the conference tournament is awarded to the top four seeds.

“Fourth place is very important to us because it locks home field advantage and gives us a huge advantage. One of our goals this year was to have home field advantage,” said Smrdel.