The Roanoke College softball team hung tough but in the end the Maroons saw their season conclude with a loss to the nation’s number one ranked team, Virginia Wesleyan. The Maroons went 2-2 in the opening round of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament at the James I. Moyer Complex in Salem.
The Maroons opened their four-team pod with a 3-2 loss to the University of Lynchburg on Friday night. They bounced back with a 1-0 win over Guilford on Saturday afternoon, eliminating the Quakers from tournament play. Baylee Compton pitched a four-hit shutout and catcher Allie Bell drove in the only run of the game in the fourth inning.
That set up a second game with Lynchburg at 5 pm Saturday and it was an elimination game as the Hornets had lost to Virginia Wesleyan earlier in the day. This time the Maroons came out on top, staying alive with an 8-5 win. Kiran Kapur went three-for-three with a double and three runs batted in to pace the Maroons while Claire Warden pitched two and a third shutout innings of relief to pick up the win. Compton pitched a clean seventh inning to earn a save.
Roanoke advanced to Sunday’s game with Virginia Wesleyan and fell to the nation’s top-ranked team, 4-0. The game was scoreless through four innings before the Marlins scored three runs off Compton in the bottom of the fifth. With the win the Marlins improved to 43-0 on the season and they’ll host Bridgewater this weekend for the ODAC championship. The Eagles came out on top in the other pod by eliminating Averett, 6-2, on Sunday in Salem. The Maroons finished the year with a 22-20 record and having won 12 of their last 19 games.
