FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Amherst College softball team improved to 10-0 at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic with a 14-3 win over Smith and a 4-3, eight-inning victory against Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Thursday.
Today marked Amherst's second extra-inning victory over the Titans this week, as the Lord Jeffs handed them a 5-4 loss on Monday. Wisconsin-Oshkosh dropped to 7-4 overall and is 6-2 in its past eight games, with both setbacks coming to Amherst.
Arielle Doering '14 pitched the first four innings against the Titans but would leave with a 2-1 deficit, as she allowed a pair of unearned runs on only two hits and three errors. The Jeffs got their first run when Theresa Kelley '13 delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the second, but they would not score again until the seventh.
Kelley came in for relief and kept Oshkosh scoreless through the next three innings, allowing Amherst to come back and send the game into extra frames. Alyssa Sherwill '15 started a seventh-inning rally with a leadoff single to left and eventually made her way to third base. With two outs, Kaitlin Silkowitz '14 sent a hard grounder back to the pitcher and beat out the throw to first, allowing Sherwill to come home for the tying run.
After the Titans took a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth, Donna Leet '15 tied things up at 3-3 with an RBI double in the bottom half of the inning. Reilly Horan '13 took over from there and provided the winning hit, bringing Leet home with a single to cap off another 2-0 day for the Lord Jeffs.
Leet was 2-for-4 in the game, while Kelley and Doering combined to allow only four hits and no earned runs.
Amherst's day began with a convincing 14-3 win over Smith, as the Jeffs used a 10-run fifth inning to put the game out of reach. Idalia Friedson '15 was 2-for-4 with three RBIs, while Karina Kossler '15 went 2-for-4 and drove in a pair. Horan, Leet and Caroline Sealander '15 added one hit and two RBIs apiece, with Silkowitz also driving in a run.
Sealander picked up the win for Amherst by surrendering one earned run on three hits in five innings of work.
The Lord Jeffs will wrap up their week by taking on St. Olaf tomorrow at 9 a.m., followed by a rematch with UMass Dartmouth at 11 a.m.
SMITH BOX SCORE
WISCONSIN-OSHKOSH BOX SCORE
