Game 1
Box Score
Game 2
Box Score
Photo
Gallery
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA — For the second
straight season, the Williams College softball team defeated
archrival Amherst when it needed to most.
Saturday on Cole Field, the Ephs made the key plays count,
defeating the Lord Jeffs 5-3 and 8-4 to secure a berth in the 2009
NESCAC Tournament via a second-place finished in the NESCAC's
West Division.
Amherst had beaten the Ephs in Amherst Friday, 3-1, forcing
Williams into a sweep-or-go-home mentality when the team shifted to
Williamstown. The Ephs scored twice in the first inning of the
first game, and never trailed in either game, improving to 15-15
overall and 8-4 in the conference. Amherst dropped to 19-8 and 7-5
in the conference.
The Ephs will face Tufts at 2:30 p.m. in the first game of the
NESCAC Tournament.
After a strong outing from senior Morgan Simpson in the circle
during game one, the Ephs and Jeffs faced a must-win game in the
nightcap. Alex Chang-Graham, who limited Williams to one run
Friday, got the start opposite Eph sophomore Mary Beth Daub.
The Ephs finally solved Chang-Graham in the bottom of the third,
breaking open a scoreless game by taking advantage of two Amherst
errors. With two outs and the bases loaded, Williams first-year
Allison Hart ripped a line drive single to left that scored Simpson
and Emily Fowler-Cornfeld.
Amherst cut its deficit in half with a run in the fourth when
Stephanie Clegg ripped a one-out double and scored on an error.
Amherst nearly tied the game in the fifth. Alexa Princi grounded
a single to left and was sacrificed to second by Jackie Tyler.
Maddie Tamagni singled off Daub's glove to put runners on the
corners for Carly Dudzik.
On the second pitch, Tyler took off for second but was thrown
out by Eph catcher Caitlyn Cain, with shortstop Joy Lye making a
swipe tag on Tyler's helmet and then falling to the ground.
Princi headed for home, but Lye, still on her posterior, rifled a
throw back to Cain in time for the out at the plate.
Williams busted open the game with a six-run bottom of the fifth
highlighted by back-to-back safety squeezes by Fowler-Cornfeld and
Copeland-Halperin and a backbreaking three-run home run by Hart to
left field.
Amherst threatened to make it a game in the seventh, An error,
walk and RBI-single by Clegg plated three runs, but with the bases
still loaded, Daub retired Annemarie Iker on a pop up to Hart at
second base to end the game.
Hart finished 2 for 3 with 5 RBI in the win, while
Fowler-Cornfeld was 1 for 3 with two runs scored. Daub hung on to
earn the win after getting a save in game one, tossing seven
innings and allowing seven hits and three walks while striking out
two. None of the four runs charged to her were earned.
Princi was 2 for 3 for Amherst, while Clegg was 2 for 4 with an
RBI and run scored. Chang-Graham took the loss, allowing eight hits
and eight runs, four earned,
In the opener, Lye ignited the Ephs leading off the first by
beating out a bunt and advancing to second on a throwing error.
Cain drew a walk off Amherst starter Tamagni. Lye advanced to third
on a wild pitch and Cain took second on defensive indifference
before a walk to Simpson loaded the bases.
Fowler-Cornfeld plated Lye with a slow roller to second, and a
second wild pitch allowed Cain to score the second run.
Amherst halved its deficit in the second when Emily
Bularzik's double scored pinch-runner Jillian Masi.
In the fourth, Becky Sansone had a key two-out, bases-loaded
single to left that made the score 4-1. Lye singled and scored on
an error in the sixth to seemingly wrap up the game for the Ephs,
but Amherst made it interesting in the seventh when a two-out
error, a walk and a single by Tyler loaded the bases. Tamagni
ripped a two-run single up the middle to make it 5-3, and Williams
coach Kris Herman called on Daub to close it out — which she
did by retiring Dudzik on a grounder to Lye at shortstop.
Lye was 2 for 3 with three runs scored in the win, breaking the
all-time record at Williams for runs scored in the process. Cain
was also 2 for 3. Simpson earned her 22nd career win and fourth
this season by going 6 2/3 innings and giving up four hits and four
walks while fanning six.
Tamagni took the loss, allowing seven hits and walking four over
six innings. She allowed just one earned run.
NOTES: In the second game, Lye set a new
single-season record at Williams with her 20th stolen base of the
season, breaking the mark held by Kerri McMahon (2004) and Gisele
Pinck (2001). In addition, Copeland-Halperin made two outstanding
catches in left field in support of Daub.
