Softball Continues Winning Ways with Sweep

When the Wagner College softball team came to battle the Lions at the Columbia University Softball Field yesterday afternoon, the only thing hotter than the sweltering 96-degree weather was the bat of Lions’ junior outfielder Laura Drazdowski. In the Lions’ 5-2 game one victory, Drazdowski belted two shots over the left field fence and drove in three runs. The outfielder then followed up that performance by hitting a clutch double off the wall in left center in the bottom of the sixth inning of the nightcap, keying the Lions’ 4-3 comeback victory.

“I think that was a first,” Head Coach Christine Vogt said of Drazdowski’s two-homer performance. “I am very proud of her. We have been gaining some confidence in the box and have been more aggressive at the plate as a team since the Brown games.”

Columbia improved to 21-13 (4-4, Ivy) having now won eight of its last ten games. The Seahawks fell to 18-32 (3-14, Ivy).

As is always the case, the Lions received excellent performances on the mound. In game one, junior hurler Allison Buehler (10-5) allowed only one earned run and no walks in seven innings of work. Meanwhile, sophomore Laura Grant (5-5) silenced the Seahawks’ bats in game two, allowing just four hits and no earned runs while pitching a complete game. All three Seahawks runs in the second game were a result of the Lions’ five fielding errors.

Wagner struck early in the first game, scoring one run off three hits in the top of the first inning. But the Lions responded in the second, getting even on Drazdowski’s two-run homer, her first collegiate career round tripper. Then in the third, the Lions took a lead they would never relinquish, as junior catcher Courtney Ryan singled to left with two Lions on base, giving Columbia a 4-2 edge. Drazdowski hit her second homer of the afternoon in the sixth, a solo shot that accounted for the final run of the game.

“I was in a slump, so I just came up to the plate with a blank slate,” Drazdowski said. “This is just how I got out of my slump.”

While the Lions took the first game with relative ease, the second game was a real nail-biter.

Down all game due to poor fielding, the Lions entered the bottom of the sixth facing a 3-1 deficit. But first-year catcher Hillary Jacobs walked to lead off the inning before advancing to third on Drazdowski’s double. The Lions then suffered a groundout and a strikeout, bringing junior Renee LiVecchi to the plate with two outs and two runners in scoring position. LiVecchi delivered with a single to left that squeezed between the shortstop and third baseman, bringing home both base runners and tying the game at 3-3.

“We’ve come back a lot,” Drazdowski said. “That’s just been our style this year.”

Grant put the Seahawks down in order at the top of the seventh, putting the Lions within one run of victory going into the bottom half of the inning.

After first-year shortstop Monica Thompson reached on an error with one out in the seventh, junior outfielder April Jarvis hit a double to left, advancing Thompson.

Wagner responded by changing pitchers, but to no avail, as the next Columbia batter, Ryan, drove in the winning run with a single to right.

“I never feel down and out with this team,” Vogt said. “Good teams always find a way to win.”

The only bad news on the day was that senior pitcher Katie Zunno did not dress due to a shoulder injury. Some have speculated that Zunno, a regular starter and integral member of the Columbia rotation, may have already pitched her last game for the Lions.

The Lions will take on Ivy rivals Harvard and Dartmouth this weekend at home.