WALTHAM, Mass. – Facing a Top 25 opponent for the third time in four series, the Brandeis University softball team dropped a pair of contests to #12-ranked Tufts, 4-2 in the opener and 14-9 in a slugfest in the nightcap.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis: 18-16.
• Tufts: 25-7, ranked #12 in Division III by National Fastpitch Coaches Association

HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME ONE (Tufts 4, Brandeis 2)

• In the opener, the Judges were able to minimize the visitors' scoring opportunities, stranding 12 Jumbos on base, but the hosts couldn't quite squeeze across enough of their own.
• Tufts outhit Brandeis, 10-5, but only one of those hits came with two out.
• Tufts first two runs in the first and third innings both came on bases-loaded walks issued by Brandeis starter Ragini Kannan (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy).
• Both times, Kannan worked out of trouble, getting a strikeout and pop to short in the first and a grounder to second to end the third.
• The Jumbos literally knocked Kannan out of the game in the fourth, when Heaven Oliva's come-backer off Kannan's leg brought in reliever Jamie Staub (Lawrenceville, N.J./Hun School) with runners on second and third with just one away. Staub got two shallow pops to right to keep it a 2-0 game.
• The Judges got their first hit off of Tufts starter Avery Kanouse in the fourth, a single by junior 1B Brooke Boehmer (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Vernon) that followed a walk. After the runners were bunted into scoring position, Kanouse got a strikeout and pop to second to end the threat.
• In the fifth, Tufts' Haley Leimbach doubled to lead off the frame, and three batters later, she scored when Ella Malin's grounder to third was unable to be fielded cleanly, giving the visitors a 3-0 lead.
• Brandeis got two more runners into scoring position again with one away in the fifth, but Kanouse got another K and a grounder to short to help the Judges scoreless.
• After Staub worked around a two-out double from Kaitlyn Perucci in the top of the sixth, the Judges finally broke through in the bottom of the inning.
• After Boehmer bounced a single through the right side, Kanouse followed with a strikeout. Brandeis senior CF Bells Burdenski (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo) delivered a 1-1 offering over the centerfield fence to close the gap to 3-2.
• The home run was Burdenski's seventh of the season, tying for the team lead, and the 22^nd of her career, moving her one spot out of the Judges' top five.
• Tufts got one of the runs back on their first RBI hit of the game off the bat of Malin, but a line-drive double play kept it a two-run game.
• The Judges got base-runner on a two-out error, but the Jumbos' Fallon O'Connor got the next out to earn her second save of the season.
• Kanouse earned the win, improving to 10-3 on the season with six innings of five-hit ball. She allowed two earned runs with five strikeouts and a walk.
• Kannan fell to 6-7 on the season, throwing 3.1 innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs. She walked three and hit one batter, while striking out three.

HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME TWO (Tufts 14, Brandeis 9)

• Offense ruled in Game 2, as the teams combined for 23 runs on 32 hits - 21 for Tufts and 11 for the Judges.
• The Judges used aggressive baserunning to plate runs in each of the first two innings.
• With two out in the first, Boehmer drew a five-pitch walk and then scored from first when sophomore 3B Jordan Wallace (Howell, N.J./Choate Rosemary Hall) scorched a ball to the right-field fence for a single.
• The RBI was Wallace's 55^th of the campaign, fourth-most in Division III this season.
• In the second, another two-out walk benefitted the home team. Sophomore RF Mary Doud (Glen Ridge, N.J./Glen Ridge) came around on a double to center by junior 2B Katie Baydian (Massapequa, N.Y./Our Lady of Mercy Academy).
• Tufts equalized things in the top of the third when Heaven Oliva and Paige Murphy hit back-to-back home runs with one out, then went ahead on a two-out double by Cat Kawabe.
• An error extended the inning, allowing Ella McHugh to drive in a run, putting the Jumbos ahead, 4-2.
• Brandeis came right back in the bottom of the frame. Three of the first four batters singled, with senior CF Maddie Manes (San Clemente, Calif./San Juan Hills) driving in the team's third run and chasing Sarah Brody from the game.
• Reliever Francesca Colangelo hit the first batter she faced to load the bases, allowing first-year SS Mia Deck (Laguna Hills, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) to tie the game at 4-all with a sacrifice fly to left.
• Two hits and a stolen base in the top of the fourth put two runners in scoring position for Tufts, and Perucci's grounder to second brought home Lauryn Horita, putting the Jumbos back on top, 5-4.
• The Jumbos appeared to blow things open in the top of the fifth, when five of the first six Jumbos reached base and scored. The inning was highlighted by Oliva's second home run of the game that gave the visitors a 10-4 lead.
• Burdenski led off the bottom of the fifth with her second homer of the day and the 23^rd of her career, pulling her into a tie for fifth on the Judges' career list with Melissa Leber '04.
• Tufts scored an insurance run in the top of the sixth, but Brandeis's Boehmer drilled a three-run home run to left in the bottom of the frame, pulling Brandeis within 11-8.
• Murphy delivered her second blast of the game to lead off the seventh inning, part of a three-run frame that pushed Tufts' advantage back to six at 14-8 before the Judges scratched one back in the bottom of the inning to close the scoring.
• Kannan came on relief in the fifth inning and added three more strikeouts to move into sole possession of second on Brandeis's career list with 336, surpassing Caroline Miller '12. She is 23 strikeouts behind Kaitlin Streilein '08's record of 359.
• Brandeis first-year Madeline Jennings (New York, N.Y./Beacon) took the loss, falling to 6-7 on the season. Colangelo won in relief, improving to 8-2.

UP NEXT

• The Judges will head to Cleveland for a three-game University Athletic Association series starting on Friday at Case Western Reserve.