FORT MYERS, Fla. – With wins over the University of New England (7-0) and UMass-Dartmouth (8-1), the Amherst softball team improved to 8-0 on the season, setting the record for the best start in program history.

Surpassing the 1999 squad which began the year 6-0 before suffering its first loss, the Jeffs will look to keep things rolling with games against Smith College and Wisconsin Osh-Kosh on Thursday, Mar. 22.

Looking to get off to a fast start against New England, Amherst put two aboard in the first on a pair of Kelsey Ayers '15 (Los Altos, Calif.) and Kaitlin Silkowitz '14 (Scarsdale, N.Y.) singles, before Donna Leet '15 (Seattle, Wash.) and Idalia Friedson '15 (Trumbull, Conn.) came up with a couple timely base-hits, helping the Lord Jeffs push three across in the opening frame.

Silkowitz plated another run in the second with an RBI single that drove in Alyssa Sherwill '15 (Wallingford, Conn.) before Friedson led off the third inning with a double. Touching home on a Sherwill RBI single later in the frame, Friedson capped off the scoring by lacing a single in the fourth that brought home Leet and Reilly Horan '13 (Darien, Conn.) to make it 7-0.

Friedson finished 3-for-3 with three RBI, while Leet went 2-for-3, driving in two runs. Horan, Silkowitz and Sherwill each added a pair of base-knocks for a potent Amherst lineup that finished with 13 hits. 

Theresa Kelley '13 (Los Angeles, Calif.) continued her dominant spring, tossing four shutout innings in the win, striking out five, while surrendering just one hit. Arielle Doering '14 (Branchburg, N.J.) pitched three innings in relief, preserving the combined shutout by not allowing a hit, while striking out four.

Keeping things rolling in game two, Amherst again wasted little time getting on the scoreboard against UMass-Dartmouth, with a four-run second inning. Friedson, Sherwill and Karina Kossler '15 (Mission Viejo, Calif.) got the frame started with consecutive singles, before a Silkowitz RBI single and a Leet double plated the Jeffs' first four scores.

With Leet aboard after a hit-by-pitch in the fifth, Horan tripled to push across Amherst's fifth run before coming home on a Friedson sacrifice fly. Looking for more in the sixth, Kossler reached on an error before stealing second, later scoring on an Ayers single. Continuing to stay aggressive on the base-paths, Ayers also swiped second before coming around on a Silkowitz single to notch the Jeffs' eighth run.

Silkowitz finished 3-for-4, with Leet, Sherwill and Kossler each going 2-for-3.

Doering threw three shutout innings, allowing just two hits, while striking out two. Caroline Sealander '15 (Washington, D.C.) lasted four frames in her second collegiate appearance, surrendering one unearned run on two hits with a strikeout.

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