NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Christopher Newport University dropped both ends of a softball doubleheader Wednesday afternoon at Captains Park. DePauw University downed the fifth-ranked Captains by scores of 9-6 and 7-5 on a chilly and drizzly day. The games marked the first home losses of the season for the Captains, who are now 8-2 at Captains Park this season.
Keith Parr's team fell to 15-4 overall, while the Tigers of DePauw improved to 9-9-1 with the pair of victories.
DePauw, from Greencastle, Indiana, came from behind in the opener by scoring five times in the fifth inning and once more in the seventh to overcome a 6-3 deficit. After the Tigers jumped to an early 2-0 edge in the top of the first, the Captains scored four times in the second inning to claim a 4-2 lead. Freshman catcher
Marly Hoefler delivered a two-run triple, and was followed by RBI hits from fifth-year senior
Delaney Nuckols and freshman
Candace Slaw. Hoefler later brought home another run with a single in the fourth frame, and senior
Brooke Greaver walked with the bases loaded to stake the Captains to the 6-3 advantage after four innings.
DePauw was powered by Katie Mathies, who drove home four runs in the opener with a two-run home run in the first inning, and then scored two more with a fifth inning single. The home run marked the first time this season the Captains have been scored on in the opening inning. Emily Timberman put the Tigers in front with a fifth inning double, scoring two runs, as DePauw finished with nine runs on 11 hits.
In the second game, the Captains never held the lead, but rallied to tie the game at 5-5 after scoring two times in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Senior
Katie Currin slammed a two-run home run in the fifth, and Nuckols stormed all the way around the bases for a sixth inning inside-the-park home run to even things up. The Tigers, though, bounced back after a brief stoppage in play due to rain, and scored twice in the top of the seventh for the 7-5 victory.
Alex Romero-Salas was the pitching star of the day for DePauw, entering the opener in the fourth inning and throwing four scoreless frames to earn the victory. Romero-Salas then started game two, and went the distance to pick up her second win of the day. In all, she threw 11 innings against the Captains, yielded just four earned runs, and is now 7-3 on the season.
Junior starting pitchers
Kate Alger and
Jamie Martin suffered the defeats for Christopher Newport, as Alger dropped to 7-3 with the loss in game one, while Martin fell to 3-1 after taking the loss n the nightcap.
The losses mark the first home sweep of the Captains by an opponent since the 2018 season, when Virginia Wesleyan took two at Captains Park. The games were moved up from their originally-scheduled time due to expected rain on Thursday in Hampton Roads. CNU and DePauw have now played nine games in their all-time series, and the Captains now hold a 5-4 edge in the series.
Christopher Newport returns to action next Thursday, April 4, hosting Roanoke University at Captains Park. The doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.
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