CLERMONT, FL. – The Wesleyan softball team had another successful afternoon in Florida, completing a 2-0 day with wins over Lawrence and St. Lawrence University on Monday. Their first game against St. Lawrence was a close battle, with the Cardinals ending up coming away with a 6-5 victory. Both pitchers were impressive through four innings of play, with the Cards pushing one across in the 2^nd to hold a 1-0 advantage. Both offenses then got going in the 5^th, each scoring five runs on a multitude of hits to move the score to 6-5 going into the 6^th. Wesleyan pitching managed to shut down the Saints bats over the final two innings to secure the 6-5 victory. The Cardinals offense got off to a strong start again in game two of the day against Lawrence University, building a 2-0 lead through the top of the 2^nd but the Vikings were quick to tie it up. Heading into the 6^th inning the teams were tied before an 8-run top half from the Cards help secure a 11-3 victory. St. Lawrence falls to 0-6 on the year, Lawrence moves to 1-9 with the loss. Wesleyan improves to 8-4, their best 12-game start to a season since 2016 where they started 9-3.
 
HIGHLIGHTS (6-5 Win vs. St. Lawrence)

• Kelly Baker '26 started her outing with two scoreless innings, and the game went into the bottom of the 2^nd tied at zero. Molly Lennon '26 and Cat Palmer '26 led the bottom of the 2^nd off with two singles, but the next two Wesleyan hitters were retired. This brought up Isabella Secaira-Cotto '25 with two on and nobody out, where she delivered a single back up the middle that scored Lennon and gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead
• Baker continued with two more scoreless innings, before running into some trouble in the top of the 5^th. After an error and lineout to open the inning, the Saints reeled off three straight hits that led to three runs and Baker exited in the game. Secaira-Cotto came in in relief, and eventually stopped the bleeding after St. Lawrence added two more runs to build a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom half of the 5^th
• In the bottom half, the Cardinals offense responded with some runs of their own. Secaira-Cotto and Revi Brown '23 led off with two base hits, followed by a pinch-hit 2-run single by Brooklin Williams '23 and the deficit was down to just two. Following a pitching change, the Cardinals were able to push across two more to even the game at five on an error and an RBI groundout. With two down and the go-ahead run on third, Darlene De La Cruz '25 came through with the biggest hit of the night, hitting a single to the left side to give the Cardinals a 6-5 lead. Secaira-Cotto closed out the final two innings in the circle, only allowing a single hit to secure the victory

NOTES:

• Baker (4.1 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 3 K's) held the Saints scoreless through four innings. Secaira-Cotto (2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 K's) came in relief to secure the Cardinals victory
• Secaira-Cotto (2-for-2, 1 R, 1 RBI) led the way for Wesleyan at the plate as well
• The Cardinals finished with nine hits from eight different players. The Saints ended with nine hits as well, leaving seven on base

HIGHLIGHTS (11-3 Win vs. Lawrence)

• After a leadoff pop up, the Cardinals strung together two hits in the opening frame with Lizzie Marino '25 and Williams both hitting singles. Lennon was able to bring home Marino one batter later with a sacrifice fly and the Cardinals were up 1-0 after one inning of play. They would add one more in the 2^nd on an RBI-groundout from Brown and took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the 2^nd
• In the bottom of the 2^nd the Vikings offense was able to break through. With two outs, Janessa Gonzalez came through with a RBI-single to right field, however a quick relay from the Cardinals defense was able to catch the runner trying to score from second base and the score remained tied going into the 3^rd. The teams traded a run over the next two innings, with Wesleyan scoring in the 3^rd and Lawrence in the 4^th to move the score to 3-3
• Both pitchers were on their stuff over the next two innings, bringing the game to the top of the 6^th still tied at three. Wesleyan's offense then exploded for eight runs to take a commanding 11-3 lead. The Cardinals put together five hits, benefitting from a pair of Vikings' errors as well to take control of the game. Lawrence was able to strand three Wesleyan base runners on, but the damage had already been done. Williams finished off the Vikings in order in the bottom half to secure Wesleyan's 2^nd victory of the day

NOTES:

• Williams (2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 K's) came in relief of Brown (4 IP, 5 H, 3 ER) and picked up her 4^th win of 2023
• Secaira-Cotto (3-for-4, 1 R, 3 RBI) continued her impressive day by tying her career-high with three RBIs. Two other Cardinals joined her with multiple hit games in Marino (2-for-2, 2 R) and Williams (2-for-5)
• The Cardinals finished with 12 hits compared to the Vikings five.

 
UP NEXT:
The Cardinals will compete in their final day of their spring break trip in Florida tomorrow March 21^st with two games. First they will take on Kalamazoo at 2 pm before going up against Elmhurst to conclude their trip to the Sunshine State.