RALEIGH, N.C. - The 19th-ranked Captains of Christopher Newport opened the 2022 softball season with a bang Saturday, winning three games by a combined score of 34-12 in the Grand Slam Triangle Classic.
The Captains opened with an 8-5 victory in eight innings over Rowan University. CNU then defeated Maryville College, 7-4, and downed Oberlin College by a 19-3 score in a game shortened to five innings due to the mercy rule. The game vs. Oberlin was scheduled for Sunday, but was moved to Saturday night due to rain forecast in the Raleigh area for Sunday. The Captains scheduled game vs. Piedmont on Sunday has been canceled.
Keith Parr's squad scored the 34 runs with the help of 35 hits in the three wins and allowed just 12 runs on 13 hits. CNU smacked nine home runs in the victories at the Walnut Creek Complex,and senior
Kaitlyn Hasty accounted for four of them, homering in all three games.
After downing Rowan in eight innings in the first game of the day, the Captains broke a 3-3 tie with Maryville by scoring three runs in the fifth inning and another in the sixth en route to the 7-4 triumph. Hasty, who went yard in the Rowan game, crushed her second home run of the day in the fifth inning, accounting for all three runs, and junior
Abby Rochette pitched the final four innings to earn the victory.
CNU closed out the busy day of action by posting 19 runs on just 13 hits in the win over Oberlin. Hasty clubbed long balls in the first and second innings and senior
Bailey Roberts blasted her second round tripper of the day. The Captains erupted for 11 runs in the third inning to put the game away. Freshman
Olivia Kim pitched all five innings for CNU to earn her first victory as a Captain.
Hasty drove in eight runs on the day, and Roberts recorded seven RBIs as the Captains opened the new year with a 3-0 mark. Christopher Newport will embark on a spring break road trip to Columbus, Ga., next week for the NFCA's Leadoff Classic beginning next Friday. CNU will open play Friday against Trine in an 11 a.m. start, and the Captains are scheduled to play two games each day Friday through Sunday.
