If the mark of a great player is that they make the spectacular seem ordinary, then senior pitcher Dawn Bodrug is doing something right.
A lone fifth-inning double spoiled her bid for a perfect game in the Stony Brook softball team’s 2-0 road win over the Seton Hall Pirates on April 14, but that sort of statistic is becoming routine — it was the sixth time in Bodrug’s Stony Brook career that she allowed one hit or less in a complete game, and her eighth shutout.
“I was really just hitting my spots, working with my catcher and [assistant coach Candi] Letts,” Bodrug said in a press release. “Every inning we had a game plan for the next inning. They’re an aggressive-hitting team. They like to take their hacks. I just had to hit my spots, work my spin, and obviously rely on my defense. It was a textbook game of just using your defense and making plays.”
Bodrug struck out six batters, a departure from her normally incredible strikeout rate, but she received help from a defense that caught 12 fly balls and committed no errors. Her ERA dropped to 1.47.
When senior outfielder Janae Barracato became the Pirates’ only baserunner with a shot to left field in the fifth that put her one double away from tying the Seton Hall program record, sophomore outfielder Shauna Nuss stepped up to preserve the Seawolves’ shutout. Dashing from left field and sliding towards center, she grabbed Pirates graduate catcher Darby Pandolfo’s fly ball to end the inning.
“I knew there were two outs,” Nuss said. “I had to make the catch — lay out … why not? And it had some hang time on it. I knew Dawn was pitching a great game. I wanted to be there for her and threw my body at it.”
Graduate outfielder Alina Lance slid home on freshman second baseman Kyra McFarland’s fifth-inning single, the only RBI of the game. Senior shortstop Nicole McCarvill also scored from third base on a throwing error.
A rematch scheduled for Saturday, April 17 was canceled. Instead, the Seawolves watched Albany hand UMBC its first conference loss of the season, leaving Stony Brook as the only team undefeated in America East play at 5-0.
Stony Brook plays at home this Tuesday and Wednesday against St. John’s and UMass, and will travel north for a three-game series with the Maine Black Bears over the weekend.
