Bates
Box Score
Wesleyan Box
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MEDFORD, MA — After a morning comeback
win, the Williams College softball team saw its season draw to a
conclusion Saturday when a rally against Wesleyan fell just short
and resulted in a 7-6 loss that eliminated it from the 2009 NESCAC
Tournament.
Williams winds up at 16-17 for 2009.
The Ephs staved off elimination earlier Saturday when they
rallied to score 12 runs over their final two at-bats and put Bates
away 14-6, in a six-inning game ended early due to the eight-run
mercy rule.
But falling into a 7-2 hole against Wesleyan in another
elimination game proved tougher. Still, the Ephs were game. Senior
Joey Lye started the comeback by beating out a bunt single with two
outs and nobody on in the top of the fourth. Lye stole second, and
scored when Caitlyn Cain grounded an RBI-single up the middle to
make it 7-3.
Eph starter Mary Beth Daub did her part, retiring 10 straight
Cardinals from the last out in the bottom of the third through the
bottom of the sixth.
That paid off in the the top half of the sixth when the Ephs
bats got going against Wesleyan starter Meaghan Dendy. Once again
it was Lye who started the rally with two outs and nobody on when
she beat out a bunt single. Cain followed with another single and
senior Becky Sansone boomed an RBI-double to center to make it a
three-run game. Senior Morgan Simpson then ripped a hard grounder
through the right side of the infield for two RBI.
Jess Cross pinch ran for Simpson and advanced to third when
senior Emily Fowler-Cornfeld singled to right. But Dendy retired
senior Libby Copeland-Halperin on a groundout to third to end the
sixth.
Williams wasn't finished, though, as first-year Allison Hart led
off the top of the seventh with a double. Sophomore Anu Rimal
replaced Dendy in the circle, and pinch-hitter Jesse Herzer greeted
her with a sacrifice bunt that moved Hart to third.
But Rimal struck out Oriana Mcgee for the second out, leaving it
up to Lye, the conference's leading hitter. Lye dropped a bunt down
the first base line, but was thrown out on a close play to end the
contest.
Wesleyan had taken a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second when
Sam Epstein smashed a three-run homer down the left-field line.
Copeland-Halperin answered for Williams in the top of the third,
crushing a two-run shot to left, her second homer on the day.
Epstein finished 1 for 2 with 4 RBI for the Cardinals. Talia
Bernstein went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI. Dendy picked up the win,
allowing 13 hits and two walks over six-plus innings. She walked
two and struck out three.
Daub took the loss for Williams, giving up five hits and seven
runs, all earned, while walking four and striking out two over six
innings. Simpson went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI for the Ephs, while
Copeland-Halperin, Lye and Cain were each 2 for 4 and Sansone 2 for
3.
The morning win over Bates featured 16 runs, 25 hits and 11
errors combined. Sansone was 4 for 5 with 3 RBI for the Ephs, while
Lye, Cain, Copeland-Halperin and Hart each had two hits.
The Ephs committed all their errors in the first four innings
and trailed 6-2 entering the bottom of the fifth — where they
proceeded to score eight times on six hits and five Bates errors.
The frame started with a Sansone single that was followed by three
straight Bates errors. Hart then lined an RBI-single into left.
Mcgee followed by beating out a bunt for a single to third and an
RBI. After an error allowed Lye to reach, Cain singled back through
the middle for an RBI. That brought the order around to Sansone
again, and she lined an RBI-single to right.
Williams put the game away with four runs in the bottom of the
sixth. Copeland-Halperin led off with a home run to left. Hart
followed with a double to left. She scored on a groundout by Carly
Ameen.
Herzer pinch-hit and started things again with a single and took
second on an error, where Mcgee was then re-inserted to run for
her. Lye beat out an infield single. Cain scored Mcgee with a sac
fly, and Sansone fittingly ended the game with a bloop single to
left that scored Lye.
Simpson earned the win, hurling three innings and allowing four
hits and one run while walking one and striking out two.
