MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — The Williams College softball team ran its win streak to 12 games Saturday with a sweep of a doubleheader against NESCAC West foe Wesleyan. The Ephs (11-0) will complete their regular season Sunday with a single game against the Cardinals in Williamstown. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
Saturday, the Ephs received strong pitching from
Kirstin Mapes and
Maya Hartman and a clutch two-run home run from
Mara Kipnis to serve the Cardinals a double-dip.
The opener was a pitcher's duel between Mapes and Cardinal hurler Revi Brown. After giving up a Kipnis single and walking Kelly McGuigan to start the top of the first, Brown wiggled out of the jam. In the Williams second,
Aly Granados led off with a single and stole second, but Brown escaped without allowing a run. Mapes gave up a two-out triple but struck out Alexis Campbell to leave the Cardinals off the board. Both pitchers dominated the middle innings as just one runner reached scoring position combined between the two teams up until the top of the sixth where Williams loaded the bases only for Brown to come through in the clutch once again, striking out the next batter and inducing a lineout to second to end the Ephs' threat.
In the Ephs 7th,
Adhya Tandon led off with a single and was sacrificed to second by senior
Cris McElhinney. Kipnis, who had seven home runs in her freshman season, knocked out her 1st round--tripper of her junior year for a 2-0 lead. Brown homered with one out in the Cardinals' half of the inning, but Mapes retired the final two Cardinals to end the game. Mapes moved to 6-0 on the season for Williams, going 7.0 innings for a complete game with one run allowed on four hits with one walk and six strikeouts
Kipnis, Tandon and
Dacia Green each tallied two hits for Williams.
In the nightcap,
Maya Hartman held Wesleyan off the scoreboard for the first three innings before allowing an RBI-single to Brown in the 4th. The Ephs responded with a six-run top of the fifth to take a commanding lead. A Tandon RBI-single tied the game, while a
Tayler Wise two-run single that scored the go-ahead runs. The game was put out of reach in the sixth as McGuigan singled to right that scored two and Mapes doubled to deep left field that scored McGuigan and made it 10-1. The game ended after six innings due to the eight-run mercy rule.
Hartman earned the win, going the distance, (six innings) and allowing three hits and two walks while striking out four.
