WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University softball team rallied for a 4-3 win in the opener of a non-conference doubleheader with visiting Wellesley College, and the teams battled back and forth to an 11-11 tie when darkness ended the nightcap.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis: 5-16-1.
• Wellesley: 7-6-1.

HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 1 (Brandeis 4, Wellesley 3)

• The Blue established an early 3-0 lead in Game 1, getting a sacrifice fly from Ruija Yang in the top of the first and a two-run home run from Giana Jones in the second.
• It looked like that might be enough for Wellesley starter Sarah Wicker, who gave up just one hit and struck out five through the first four innings.
• The Judges struck back in the fifth against reliever Bella Hassett. After she retired the first two hitters, first-year DP Jordan Wallace (Howell, N.J./Choate Rosemary Hall, Conn.) doubled to right and senior 2B Fiona Doiron (Charlton, Mass./Marianapolis Prep) drew a walk.
• Junior Erin Hunt (Wake Forest, N.C./Franklin Acad.) followed with a triple over the head of the rightfielder, plating the Judges' first two runs.
• Wellesley's Jones doubled with one out in the top of the seventh and moved to third on an overthrow, but Brandeis junior Ragini Kannan (Westford, Mass./Westford) induced a grounder to third that froze the runner and got a strikeout to preserve the 3-2 deficit.
• In the bottom of the seventh, Wallace struck a one-out double to center, her second of the game. Senior Rani Balakrishna (Brookline, Mass./Windsor School) came on to pinch run, and she scored on Doiron's single up the middle to tie the game.
• Hunt followed with a comebacker to the circle against reliever Jill Colgan, who fired to third to cut down the lead runner.
• With first-year SS Katie Baydian (Massapequa, N.Y./Our Lady of Mercy Acad.) at the plate, Hunt moved to second on a wild pitch. Baydian then singled to the hole between third and short. While the two Wellesley fielders were distracted, Hunt sprinted home from third and scored the winning run.
• Kannan earned the win with seven innings of six-hit ball. She allowed three earned runs, struck out three and walked one. She improved to 2-3 on the season.
• Hassett took the loss for Wellesley, falling to 0-1, after throwing 2.1 innings of four-hit ball. She allowed four runs (three earned), with two walks and two strikeouts.

HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 2 (Brandeis 11, Wellesley 11)

• Game two was a crazy affair that saw scoring in every half-inning but one as the teams combined for 22 runs on 19 hits, nine walks, and two hit batters, along with five errors.
• Wellesley jumped out to a 6-1 lead after two innings, with Colgan and Yang each driving in two.
• After an RBI single by grad student Haley Nash (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) in the first, Brandeis clawed within one run in the second, thanks to a solo home run by Wallace – the first of her collegiate career -  followed by a dropped ball at first base that allowed a run to score, an RBI single by sophomore 1B Brooke Boehmer (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) and a bases-loaded walk to first-year catcher Dylan Yamamura (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park) that made it 6-5.
• After the only scoreless inning in the top of the third, Brandeis tied the game on a solo home run to left by junior CF Bells Burdenski (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo) to lead off the bottom of the frame. After the first out of the inning, Hunt and Baydian hit back-to-back doubles to put Brandeis on top, 7-6, marking the second time in three games that the Judges had erased a 5-run deficit.
• Wellesley knotted the game at 7-all in the top of the fourth when Alena Mulhern doubled to lead off, stole third and beat a throw home on a grounder to third base.
• Burdenski delivered a no-doubt-about-it homer to center field with one on and two out in the bottom of the fourth, her second of the season and the 15^th of her career, putting Brandeis ahead, 9-7.
• With darkness descending, it looked as though the fifth would be the final inning of the game. Wellesley took advantage of sloppy Brandeis defense in the top of the inning, scoring four runs on just one hit by three Brandeis errors and a fielder's choice that saw a runner beat a throw home. The Blue emerged with an 11-9 lead, needing just three outs to secure the split.
• The Judges did not go quietly, loading the bases on two singles and a walk. Boehmer delivered a hit to left that tied the game at 11-11 and left runners on first and second with no one out. Colgan, who came on in relief in the third inning, avoided allowing the winning run to score, as she struck out the next batter. After hitting Yamamura to load the bases, Colgan got a come-backer to the circle and turned a 1-2-3 double play to end the game.
• Boehmer (2-3, 3 RBI, R, BB) and Burdenski (2-2, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR, BB) led the Brandeis offense.
• This was Burdenski's second career two-homer game, along with a 4-RBI performance against Carnegie Mellon on April 6, 2024.
• Mulhern (3-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 2B, 2 SB) and Yang (1-4, 3 RBI, R, 2 SB) paced the Blue.
• This was the second tie between Brandeis and Wellesley since 2019 and third in 36 meetings all-time. The Judges are 11-0-2 in the last 13 games with the Blue.

UP NEXT

• The Judges play two non-conference games against WPI on Friday at 3 PM in Worcester.