The season might be almost over, but senior pitcher Maggie Johnson is still proving that she has a lot left to offer during her final games playing for the Light Blue.
The Lions (15-24, 5-9 Ivy) swept Princeton (13-21, 4-8 Ivy) away this weekend 5-3 and 2-0 during a doubleheader on Sunday. Columbia was originally scheduled to play the Tigers for two consecutive doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday, but due to bad weather, Saturday’s games were postponed until Tuesday. The second game saw Johnson throw the first no-hitter of her four-year career at Columbia, and the senior finished with her lowest ERA of the season, 1.95.
Johnson was quick to cite the rest of the team as a major contributor to her great game on Sunday. “Well any pop up to [Emily] Caruthers I know she’ll get so I wasn’t worried about that; in fact, each ball they made contact with I knew my defense would get. I also attribute much of my success today to my catcher Anne Marie Skylis, who was able to get some great calls and worked her butt off for me behind the plate,” she wrote in an email.
Game one didn’t start out well for the Lions, as they were down 3-0 after the Tigers had an explosive second inning. The Light Blue was able to overcome the deficit during the fifth, however, where they scored three runs of their own. The Lions managed to put it away in the sixth, in which they scored another two runs to secure the win.
Johnson began game two by striking out the three leadoff batters in the bottom of the first. She walked one batter in both the third and fourth innings, but neither was able to advance to second base. Johnson would hold off the Princeton bats for the remainder of the game to secure the win.
The Light Blue got on the scoreboard after sophomore infielder Jennifer Bergeron stole second and scored off a single to center by Skylis. Columbia scored once more after freshman outfielder Emily Caruthers stole her 11th base of the season. Bergeron brought the freshman home with a groundout to put Columbia up 2-0.
Johnson was excited about the no-hitter, which actually was not the first of her softball career.
“My dad actually texted me after the game to say congrats and to tell me I hadn’t thrown a no-hitter since I was eleven,” Johnson wrote.
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