Courtesy of Hamilton College Sports Information
CLINTON, NY – Junior Megan Coughlin pitched all seven innings, posted four strikeouts and did not walk a batter to help lead Hamilton College past visiting Amherst College, 6-1, in a New England Small College Athletic Conference West Division softball game at Ferguson Field on Apr. 5.
Senior Jen Sadowsky went 2-for-3 for Hamilton (6-7, 1-3 NESCAC West) and scored a run, and Rachel Rapoza went 1-for-4 with two runs batted in. Sophomore Jackie Tyler (Ridgewood, NJ) went 2-for-4 for Amherst (5-7, 0-1 NESCAC West), while senior tri-captain Elizabeth Neckes (Dover, MA) went 1-for-4 with a double.
Amherst scored the game's first run, with Neckes' double getting things going with two outs in the first inning before she was driven home by an Emily Neill (Kentfield, CA) single.
Hamilton responded with two runs in the bottom half of the first to take a lead that it never relinquished. With two outs, Coughlin singled home Kelly Fitzsimmons, who reached on a single of her own and took second base on a groundout. Coughlin scored the winning run when a Sadowsky grounder was muffed by the first baseman for what should have been the third out.
The Continentals added an insurance run with one out in the fourth when Ashley White, who was pinch-running for Sadowsky, scored on a wild pitch. Sadowsky had singled to lead off the inning.
The Continentals scored the game's final three runs in the sixth. With one out, Sadowsky—who re-entered the game to begin the fifth—singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Liz Reid then walked, and pinch hitter Liz Farrington singled to score Sadowsky. Reid advanced to third on the hit, and Farrington wound up at second. Following a strikeout, Rapoza laced a two-out single to score the runners.
Sophomore Alex Chang-Graham took the complete-game loss for the Lord Jeffs, giving up five earned runs and striking out four with one walk.
Rapoza retired four batters in center field, including one on a spectacular diving catch on a line drive in the second inning.
The win was the Continentals' first against Amherst in at least 12 years, according to available records. The two teams play again tomorrow at Ferguson in a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m.
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