Huskies Fall to Samford in Season Opener

Thursday, February 5

Tallahassee, FL

3:30 PM

University of Connecticut

0-1

Samford

1-0

UConn

Samford

Photo by: UConn Athletics

2/5/2026 7:49:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

TALLAHASSEE – Fla. – The UConn softball team was defeated by the Samford Bulldogs, 6-2 on Thursday afternoon.

Jessica Walter (Middletown, Del.) got the start in the season opener, making her first career start in a UConn uniform. The Providence transfer went 2.1 innings, giving up five runs, four being earned, on five hits, adding a strikeout.

UConn jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning off the bat of Cat Petteys (Vestal, N.Y.), as the sophomore infielder doubled to right center field, scoring Kaiea Higa all the way from first base, putting the Huskies in front, 1-0.

Samford responded in the bottom of the first inning with a run of their own, knotting the game at 1-1.

Samford took the lead for good in the second inning, scoring two runs to make it 3-1.

Stella Kiemele (St. Anthony, Minn.) came on in relief for Walter in the third inning. Kiemele faced just two batters before being relieved by Alexandra Bacher (Ridgefield, Conn.) in the third inning. Bacher went on to pitch the rest of the game in the circle. In her UConn debut, Bacher tossed 3.2 innings, giving up one run on just two hits with a strikeout.

Samford extended their lead to 5-1 in the third inning and would go on to add another run in the sixth inning, making it 6-1.

UConn continued to battle, scoring a run in the top of the 7^th inning, off a sacrifice fly from Savannah Ring, but the deficit proved to be too large for the Huskies.

Up Next

UConn continues their time at the JoAnne Graf Classic on Friday, February 6 as the Huskies will play Marshall beginning at 10:00am.