Amherst, MA --- The
Amherst College softball team fell into an early 2-0 hole against
the visiting Engineers of WPI, but the Lord Jeffs came from behind
to earn a 4-3 win Wednesday afternoon in their 2010 home opener.
Amherst (6-5) improved to 9-3 against WPI (8-3) in the all-time
series.
After the teams traded 1-2-3 innings to begin the game, the
visitors jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a two-run homer to left center
by first-year Erin Beaulieu (Bethany, CT). After
first-year Katherine Fitton (Lebanon, CT) led off
the inning with a double to center, Beaulieu put together an
outstanding at-bat that resulted in her first long ball of the
season.
WPI starting pitcher Allie Hardy (West
Townsend, MA) held the Jeffs scoreless through three innings, but
the hosts broke through with three runs in the bottom of the fourth
to take a lead they would not relinquish. First-year Megan
Kepnach (Piscataway, NJ) led off with a single to right
field and would later score on an errant throw, but it was
sophomore catcher Annemarie Iker (Mill Valley, CA)
who provided the big hit by singling up the middle for two RBIs
that handed the lead over to Amherst.
The Engineers threatened to regain the lead in the top of the
fifth when they loaded the bases with two outs, but Amherst senior
tri-captain Alex Chang-Graham (San Carlos, CA)
came in for relief and got Fitton to send a grounder to shortstop
Carly Dudzik (Darien, CT), who flipped the ball to
third baseman Reilly Horan (Darien, CT) for the
third out.
In the bottom of the fifth, Dudzik provided Amherst with what
proved to be the winning run when a deep fly ball to center field
scored senior tri-captain Jackie Tyler (Ridgewood,
NJ), who had reached on a picture perfect bunt single.
Sophomore Allie Roche (Chelmsford, MA) started
a two-out rally in the top of the sixth when she drew a walk.
Junior Kim Martilla (Kings Park, NY) kept things
going with an RBI-double down the left field line, but she ended
the inning when she was thrown out while trying to advance to
third. Chang-Graham sat the Engineers down in order in the top of
the seventh to end the game and pick up her first save of the
season.
First-year Theresa Kelley (Los Angeles, CA)
pitched the first 4.2 innings for Amherst, striking out three and
walking one. She allowed two earned runs on only four hits to
improve to 3-2 on the season. Chang-Graham walked two and allowed
only one run on one hit in her 2.1 innings of relief.
Hardy allowed three runs—two earned—on five hits
through 4.0 innings, dropping to 2-2 on the year with the loss.
First-year Christa Coscia (Lakeville, MA) was
responsible for Amherst's fourth run, surrendering a pair of
hits to go along with one walk and one strikeout in 2.0 innings.
Senior tri-captain Emily Neill (Kentfield, CA)
and Iker each went 2-for-3 for the Lord Jeffs, who had seven hits
on the day. Martilla (2-for-3) was the lone Engineer with multiple
hits.
The Lord Jeffs will return to action Thursday, Mar. 25, when
they host Springfield College at 4pm. The Engineers will travel to
play Springfield in a doubleheader Friday, Mar. 26, with the first
game beginning at 2:30pm.
Release courtesy Amherst Sports Information
