WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University softball team faced one of the hottest teams in New England today and the Judges were unable to stop visiting WPI in a doubleheader on Marcus Field today, as the Judges dropped a pair of games by scores of 10-2 and 14-5.
TEAM RECORDS
- Brandeis: 16-10.
- WPI: 20-0, ranked #22 in Division III by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 1 (WPI 10, Brandeis 2 – 5 innings)
- WPI scored all 10 of their runs in the first three innings of the contest, tallying three in the first, five in the second and two more in the third.
- The Engineers got all they would need in the first inning thanks to a two-run single by Riley O'Brien and an RBI hit by Stella Kozak.
- They blew things open in the second thanks to back-to-back home runs by Sandy Fairbairn – a three-run shot – and O'Brien.
- Brandeis senior 2B Katie Baydian (Massapequa, N.Y./Our Lady of Mercy Academy) drove home a run in the bottom of the second to get the Judges out of eight-run-rule range.
- WPI answered with their third homer of the game, off the bat of Lucy Latour, and a RBI single from Emma Nagy to go ahead, 10-1.
- Brandeis senior CF Bells Burdenski (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo) went deep for the third game in a row to lead off the fourth inning, but that was all the Judges could muster as WPI ended the game after five.
- Brandeis first-year Madeline Jennings (New York, N.Y./Beacon) gave up eight runs (seven earned) in one-plus innings, falling to 6-5 on the season. Sophomore Jamie Staub (Lawrenceville, N.J./Hun School) limited WPI to two runs in the final four innings of relief.
- WPI's Naomi Boldebuck gave up five hits in five innings to improve to 7-0 on the season. She took advantage of a wide strike zone to strike out six, walking one.
HOW IT HAPPENED, GAME 2 (WPI 14, Brandeis 5)
- The Judges hung with the Engineers in Game 2, trailing by just one, 5-4, after five innings, but the visitors delivered three of their five home runs in the final two frames, exploding for nine runs to blow things open.
- After WPI scored in the first when Virginia McKinney scored from second on a force out by O'Brien, the Judges struck for three in the bottom of the inning.
- Sophomore 3B Jordan Wallace (Howell, N.J./Choate Rosemary Hall) singled home the tying run with her team-leading 45th RBI of the season, and Burdenski followed with an RBI single to put the home team on top. Sophomore catcher Dylan Yamamura (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park) followed with a two-run single to make it a 3-1 lead for the Judges, but a bases-loaded strikeout ended the inning.
- After a scoreless second – one of only two scoreless frames across the doubleheader – WPI tied things up in the third on O'Brien's second home run of the day, a two-run shot to left.
- The Engineers went up 5-3 after the top of the fifth, thanks to a Meg Sherwood RBI single in the fourth and O'Brien's third round tripper of the afternoon with one away in the fifth.
- After Wallace pulled Brandeis back within one with her 46th RBI of the campaign, making it 5-4, the visitors posted their second back-to-back homers of the game in the sixth, with McKinney dropping one just over the fence in center and Fairbairn blasting one to left, making it 8-4.
- Brandeis first-year Taryn Rainey (Huntley, Ill./Huntley) knocked in another run in the sixth, but a five-run seventh by WPI featured a McKinney grand slam that accounted for the 14-5 final.
- WPI's Abby Merchant earned the win to improve to 11-0 on the season with five innings of eight-hit ball, despite allowing a season-high four earned runs. She struck out five and walked two.
- Brandeis senior Ragini Kannan (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) fell to 5-3 in the circle after going 6.1 innings.
UP NEXT
- The Judges head to Pittsburgh this weekend for a three-game University Athletic Association series at Carnegie Mellon. The series starts on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. with a single game.
