tBRUNSWICK, Me. -- The Amherst College softball team dropped to tightly-contested contests at Bowdoin Saturday, 4-2 an\, as the Polar Bears played for the first time in their new turf field, Pickard Field.

Amherst fell to 5-16 on the season, 2-6 in conference play, while Bowdoin improved to 15-7 overall, 2-4 in the NESCAC. Amherst will be back at Pickard Field Sunday to play Bates in a doubleheader, with the first game scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m.

Game 1, Bowdoin 4, Amherst 2:

* Bowdoin starter Kathleen Hester retired the first 11 Mammoths she faced on Saturday, but down 1-0 with two outs and nobody on in the top of the fourth, the Mammoths strung together three consecutive hits to take a 2-1 lead.  First-year Emily Nordstrom got the rally started with a single to right center. Dani Torres Werra then bombed a double to left-center field, advancing Norstrom to third. Senior Sadie Pool followed with a two-run double to left that made it 2-1 Amherst.

* Bowdoin tied it at 2-all with a run in its half of the fourth. In the bottom of the sixth, a pair of back-to-to-back two-out walks and a wild pitch put runners on second and third. A ground ball in the infield resulted in an error that allowed both runs to score and give Bowdoin a 4-2 lead. 

* Hester worked around a two-out walk and stolen base from Mammoth senior Randi Finkelsein to earn her second win of the season. Sophomore Dylan Briggs took the loss for Amherst despite not allowing an earned run. 

Game 2, Bowdon 6, Amherst 1

* Trailing 2-0 after one inning of the nightcap, Amherst rallied for a run in the second when Torres Werra led off with a single and moved to third when Pool stroked another double. Annalise Knop came through with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Torres Werra to make it 2-1, bu that was all the Mammoths could muster. 

* Bowdoin broke it open with a three-run bottom of the third inning off of game two start Knop to take a 5-1 lead. 

* Knop took the loss for Amherst, allowing seven hits and five runs, all earned over three innings of work. She fell to 2-4. 

* Amherst had four hits in the loss, Torres Werra was 2 for 3.