WATERVILLE, Me. – In a back-and-forth game through six innings, the Amherst College softball team surrendered two runs in the final inning to drop a heart-breaking 4-3 loss against Colby College in their second game of their Saturday afternoon series. The first game was a high-scoring affair for the Mules, who delivered a five-inning, 9-0 decision against the Mammoths.
Amherst closed the regular season 17-18 overall and 7-11 in NESCAC play, finishing seventh in NESCAC standings. Colby improved to 16-19 and 10-8 in the conference, finishing fourth in the NESCAC. The Mammoths will head to the NESCAC Championship next, at Tufts' UNiversity's Spicer Field versus an opponent yet to be determined.
Game Two: Colby College 4, Amherst College 3
*Senior
America Rangel led off with a bunt that scored the shortstop a run as a Colby throwing error allowed her to race around the diamond, 1-0.
*The Mules equalized in the bottom of the first as a right-center double from junior Victoria Ramirez scored junior Carissa Cassidy, 1-1.
*Amherst regained their lead in the top of the second, plating their second run of the game as a walk with bases loaded led junior
Abby Kong to score, 2-1.
*The contest was a back-and-forth rally until the bottom of the third, when Colby found their equalizer on a single up the middle from senior Colleen McAvoy, 2-2.
*Strong work from within the circle kept the Mules scoreless in the fourth inning. Senior
Dani Torres Werra notched two back-to-back strikeouts and sent the third batter off on a groundout.
*Amherst edged into the lead in the top of the fifth. First-year
Abby Rebhan reached on a single, then crossed home plate on a left-center double from sophomore
Emma Nordstrom.
*A heart-breaking Colby rally sent the hosts into the lead in the bottom of the seventh. Sophomore Caroline DeSimone equalized on a double from Ramirez while a single down the left-field line by sophomore Juliana Kiley made it 4-3, giving Colby a walk-off conclusion to the series.
By The Numbers:
*Rangel went 2-3 with 1 RBI and Nordstrom went 2-4 with 1 RBI. Ramirez went 2-4 for Colby with 2 RBI.
*Torres Werra tallied 3 strikeouts over 7 innings of work, allowing 11 hits. First-year Sophia Meade had 3 strikeouts over 5 innings and produced 8 Mammoth hits.
Game One: Colby College 9, Amherst College 0 (5 inn.)
*The first two innings were a scoreless affair as Rebhan struck out one batter and first-year
Lulu Leppard tallied two groundouts at third base.
*The Mules got on the board in the bottom of the third with four runs. Senior Erika MacLeod led off with a walk, crossing the plate on a single from DeSimone, 1-0. The runner managed to steal home plate and make it 2-0 as junior Carissa Cassidy stole second. The risky effort repeated itself as Cassidy stole home plate to add a third run. Finally, sophomore Ella Wilcox hit a single to right field to score Ramirez, 4-0.
*While the Amherst bats continued to struggle on offense, Colby produced a five-run fifth inning to close the contest on a mercy-rule decision. Cassidy hit a double to lead off the stanza with a run. After Rebhan struck out one batter, two more runners crossed the plate on a fielding error. A closing home run from McAvoy tallied two more points and closed the game 9-0.
By The Numbers:
*Rangel and Kong each went 1-2. On the Colby side, Cassidy went 3-3 with 1 RBI and DeSimone went 2-3 with 1 RBI.
*Rebhan struck out two batters over five innings of work.
