Image courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications 

By Bennett Conlin (This content was originally published in our newsletter)

UCLA overwhelms JMU – The Dukes looked overmatched by the Bruins, who swept the Dukes with two commanding wins. Rachel Garcia was tremendous for UCLA. 

Game 1 – Kate Gordon homered in the top of the first to give JMU its only lead of the series. UCLA scored four in the third inning and eventually won 6-1. Garcia drove in four runs, and an error in the third inning hurt the Dukes. 

Game 2 – UCLA clinched the series with a 7-2 win. JMU fought hard, but ultimately came up well short. Garcia drove in another pair of runs and Taylor Pack homered twice. 

Final thoughts – JMU didn’t play its best against UCLA, and three errors across the two games hurt the Dukes. UCLA was clearly the better team, though. I thought the series was a toss up going in, but there was a clear difference between UCLA’s at-bats and JMU’s ABs. The Bruins are one of the best teams in the country, and JMU wasn’t quite up to the task this weekend. 

Overall, this season was a tremendous success for the Dukes. They won a Regional, went 51-10 and return everyone except Megan Good next season. The future of JMU softball is bright. 

Megan Good’s incredible career – Arguably JMU’s best athlete ever, Good finishes her career with a 1.03 ERA, 900 strikeouts and a 120-17 record in the circle. That’s in addition to her 45 home runs, 188 RBIs and .351 batting average. She’s one of the best to ever play any sports at JMU, and she’ll be missed by fans.