DePaul Blue Demons Softball Team Starts Season 3-2

DePaul softball is back! Opening their 2021 season inside the warm confines of the Dome in Rosemont, the Blue Demons started with a big win. The Blue Demons went 3-2 over the weekend but unfortunately ended it with a tough loss.

The DePaul started its season with a big 8-0 victory over Valparaiso on Friday afternoon. Gabby O’Riley got DePaul on the scoreboard with a home run in the bottom of the first. In the second, a Tori Meyer double scored Brooke Johnson who had doubled.

DePaul scored 5 in the fourth, starting with Meyer singling in Maranda Gutierrez. Pearl Barroso followed with a 3 run home run. After Skylor Hilger walked, Angela Scalzitti drove her in with a single, making it 7-0. Gutierrez homered in the 5th.

Halvorson pitched a complete game shutout and with seven strikeouts and no walks. She only allowed two hits.

In the second game on Friday, DePaul lost 9-3 to Eastern Michigan. DePaul was already down 4-0 when Tori Meyer's sacrifice fly drove in Zoie Rettig to put DePaul on the board in the third inning. In the fourth, with Hilger on base, Scalzitti doubled to cut the lead to 4-2. A bases-loaded wild pitch scored another run in the fourth. Unfortunately, that would be the end of scoring for DePaul, as Eastern Michigan cruised to the 9-3 win. DePaul's Erin Hocker started the game and gave up three earned runs in while pitching 1.2 innings. Krista Dalgarn pitched 4 innings, giving up f earned runs. Halvorson came in to pitch a scoreless inning. DePaul is now 1-1 on the season.

DePaul returned to action Saturday morning, rebounding with a 9-6 win over the University of Missouri-Kansas City. UMKC started the scoring in the first, going up 2-0, but DePaul answered with a Jessica Cothern double to score Kate Polucha.

In the fourth inning, Polucha doubled and scored on a Meyer single. Gutierrez doubled to score Meyer, making it 3-2 DePaul. UMKC scored two in the fifth, but Gabby O'Reilly homered to tie it again. Then, Polucha reached base and scored on a Meyer double. Nicole Sullivan singled to score Meyer and put DePaul up 6-4.

In the sixth, Cothern's single scored Gutierrez. Cothern and Scalzitti then scored on a throwing error. UMKC scored two in the seventh, but fall short.

Dalgarn earned the victory while getting 5 strikeouts in three innings. DePaul is now 2-1 on the season.

In the second game on Saturday, DePaul thumped city rival Loyal 1-6 in five innings. This brought DePaul's record to 3-1.

With Loyola already up 3-0, DePaul exploded for six runs in the first. Scalzitti doubled and scored on an O'Riley double. Meyer doubled with the bases loaded to score two more. Meyer cleared the bases with a homer to put DePaul up 9-3.

DePaul scored four runs on five hits in the fifth to expand the lead to five. Loyola added a run in the fifth but was unable to close the gap any more.

Julyana pitched 4.1 innings to notch her first win. Hocker pitched the rest.

DePaul went into Sunday's game with interstate rivals the Western Illinois Leathernecks with a 3-1 record and looking to end the weekend on a high note. Unfortunately, after a great start, Sunday's game turned sour for the Blue Demons.

After three scoreless innings, DePaul scored when Johnson drove in Cothern, who had doubled. Western Illinois matched DePaul with a run in the top of the fifth.

DePaul (3-2) put a single run up in the fourth with a Jessica Cothern double followed by a Brooke Johnson RBI double to right field.

DePaul exploded in the bottom of the fifth, scoring five runs. Gutierrez singled and scored on a Scalzitti triple. O’Riley walked and Polucha singled to score Scalzitti. Cothern belted a three-run home run to make it 6-1.

In the bottom of the sixth, Gutierrez singled and Scalzitti tripled again to add an insurance run. The Blue Demons went into the top of the seventh up 7-1 and feeling good.

Then things turned ugly. The Leathernecks got five hits and were helped by two DePaul errors on the way to tying the game at 7-7.

After DePaul failed to score in the seventh, the Leathernecks started the eighth with a runner at second. After the runner was advanced to third, she scored on a sacrifice bunt. DePaul did not score in their half of the eighth and the game ended 8-7.

Despite the tough loss, DePaul still went 3-2 over the weekend and had plenty of bright spots. Halvorson's early pitching and the offensive explosions were bright spots. A few too many errors and some pitching issues were the negatives.

DePaul is off until the Coach B Classic on Feb. 26-28 in Carbondale, Illinois