Courtesy of Wesleyan University Sports Information
MIDDLETOWN, CT – The Amherst College softball team earned a 1-0 win at Wesleyan University in game one of Saturday's doubleheader but could not complete the sweep, as the Cardinals clinched the top spot in the West standings with a 9-3 win over the Lord Jeffs. Amherst will host Middlebury College Sunday at 2 p.m.
Wesleyan got three runs in the first inning of game two on an infield single by first-year Talia Bernstein, plating senior Becca Feiden, who led off the inning with an infield hit. Senior Marcia Whitehead, who had singled up the middle between the plate appearances of Feiden and Bernstein, scored on a wild pitch and Bernstein trotted home on a base hit by sophomore Taylor Zavadsky.
Though Amherst got one back in the second inning after sophomore Emily Neill (Kentfield, CA) led off with a double, went to third on a groundout and scored on another groundout by junior Emily Bularzik (Braintree, MA), Wesleyan ran the margin to 9-1 with a six-run eruption in the 4th. Zavadsky had the big hit of the inning, sending a bases-loaded double to the right centerfield fence to bring home two runs. When the relay throw got away, another run scored and Zavadsky went to third base.
Junior Molly O'Connell brought in the final run of the fourth on a sacrifice fly to left as Zavadsky just beat the throw home by Amherst first-year Jillian Masi (Belchertown, MA). Earlier in the inning, sophomore Meaghan Dendy brought in a run with a single off the third baseman's glove and Bernstein was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Amherst extended the game to its full seven innings by scoring two unearned runs in the fifth. Three Wesleyan mistakes in the inning, coupled with hits by junior Holly Trace (Northport, AL), who scored on one of the errors, and an RBI-single by sophomore Jackie Tyler (Ridgewood, NJ) ended the day's scoring.
Dendy won her seventh straight decision to improve to 10-5 on the year. All seven wins have come in NESCAC West games. Amherst starter senior Samantha Miller (Newton, MA), who departed during the fourth, fell to 3-5. Trace and Neill accounted for four of the Lord Jeffs' five hits.
In the opener, Amherst sophomore Alexandra Chang-Graham (San Carlos, CA) and Wesleyan senior Karla Hargrave both threw outstanding five-hitters for their respective teams and each issued two walks and posted five strikeouts.
The difference in the game was a single by Neill through the left side to lead off the fourth and a wild pitch that moved her to second base. After two outs, Bularzik put a shot into right centerfield for an RBI-single. Wesleyan got a runner to third base in four of the seven innings but Chang-Graham got out of trouble each time, including the seventh inning as she got the final out on a pop to shortstop with a Cardinal standing on third base as the potential tying run.
Chang-Graham improved to 6-6 on the season and lowered her ERA to an impressive 1.85, which is one of the best in the NESCAC.
Wesleyan has clinched the top spot in the NESCAC West and will host the NESCAC tournament May 2-4 as a result. Amherst is still in the playoff hunt but will need to sweep the three-game series against Williams in order to qualify for the NESCAC tournament, regardless of what happens in Sunday's game against Middlebury.
GAME 1 BOX SCORE
GAME 2 BOX SCORE
