FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - Christopher Newport notched two wins on Wednesday at Mary Washington, by scores of 10-1 and 7-3, giving Head Coach
Keith Parr his 499th and 500th career victories. Parr, in his 15th season leading the Captains, became the 56th coach in Division III softball history to reach the 500-victory plateau.
Christopher Newport improved to 26-6 overall and 9-1 atop the Capital Athletic Conference. The Captains jumped to an early lead in the opener by scoring three times in the first inning and five more times in the second. The 10-1 final verdict came in just five innings due to the eight-run mercy rule. In the nightcap, CNU held a 3-0 edge before the Eagles tied the game with three in the bottom of the sixth. The Captains bounced back by plating four in the top of the seventh to post the 7-3 final. Mary Washington fell to 14-19-1 overall and 3-6-1 in the CAC.
Sophomore
Aubrey Bates continued her dominance in the pitching circle in the opener, allowing just one unearned run on two hits over five innings. Bates, who has been honored as the Pitcher of the Week in the CAC the last two weeks, struck out eight Eagles batters and improved to 12-1 on the season.
At the plate in the opener, freshman
Patty Maye Ohanian smacked an RBI double in the first and followed it with an RBI triple in the second frame. Ohanian ended up three-for-four with three runs scored and two RBI. Sophomore
Grace Wild also drove in two runs with two base hits, and senior
Rachael Payne was three-for-three as the 11th-ranked Captains registered ten runs on a dozen hits.
In the nightcap, sophomore
Laura Kate Moss went the distance to earn the win, improving to 6-4. Moss cruised through the first five innings, holding the Eagles scoreless until the sixth. She ended up yielding three runs on six hits with six strikeouts.
Senior
Leah Andrews cracked the day's only home run in game two, a two-run shot to open the scoring in the third. It marked her fourth home run of the year, and Andrews scored three times in the nightcap while going two-for-three. Payne also continued a big day at the dish, going two-for-three with two RBI in the second game to finish the day five-for-six. Payne delivered an RBI single in the top of the seventh inning to re-capture the lead for the Captains, 4-3, after the Eagles had evened things up in the bottom of the sixth. Ohanian also added two more hits in game two to complete a five-for-eight afternoon as the Captains cemented Coach Parr's 500th career triumph.
Parr, a 1999 CNU graduate and former Captains baseball player, now has a career mark of 500-159-1 for a winning percentage of almost 76 percent. He has led CNU to the NCAA Tournament 11 straight seasons, including a national runner-up finish in 2011, and the Captains have won more than 30 games in each of the last 11 years. He has been awarded conference Coach of the Year honors five times, and coming into the 2018 season was ranked 12th on the NCAA's all-time coaching list for highest career winning percentage.
Ironically, Parr also recorded his 400th career win against the Eagles of Mary Washington almost exactly three years ago. His 400th victory came on April 16, 2015 with a 4-1 win over the Eagles.
CNU will continue a busy stretch of five CAC doubleheaders in eight days this weekend. The Captains complete the regular season schedule at home with CAC doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday...hosting the Knights of Southern Virginia University Friday beginning at 3:30 at Captains Park, and then the Bobcats of Frostburg State come to Newport News for Senior Day on Saturday with first pitch set for 1:30 p.m.
