Awaiting their season opener, the Jeffs were stuck in Massachusetts due to an unexpected snowstorm delay, causing the cancellation of scheduled games. Finally, the Jeffs arrived in sunny California and were able to play their first doubleheader against the College of St. Catherine and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. In their first game, the Jeffs ousted CSC with standout first-year pitcher Alex Chang-Graham, who had eight strikeouts and gave up only two hits, on the mound for all five innings. Centerfielder Jackie Tyler, another first-year, had a single and an RBI, hitting her first collegiate homerun. The Jeffs took their first game easily by the score of 8-0. The travel fatigue did not escape the Jeffs in their second game of the day against powerful UW Eau Claire; Amherst lost 13-0.
On the second day, the Jeffs had another doubleheader against Dana College and a rematch with CSC. In their first game, the Jeffs were out-hit 10-3 and lost to Dana by a score of 9-1. However, later in the day the Jeffs came back to life, beating CSC by a close score of 8-7 in eight innings. The Jeffs had 11 hits, which helped them come back from a 5-0 defecit after the first three innings and take a 6-5 lead into the seventh inning. But St. Catherine managed to gain a run, making the score 6-6 and forcing the game into extra innings. Chang-Graham had two strikeouts in the top half of the eighth but gave up an RBI single. But Amherst found a way to get the run back.
Senior co-captain and third baseman Caroline Polales scored the game-tying run to boost the Jeffs' confidence. Then, second baseman Julia Cummings '09 hit a single in the outfield, allowing outfielder Alexa Princi '09 to score and Amherst to win the game.
Unfortunately, the Jeffs could not keep up the momentum for the next doubleheader. In their second match-up against UW-Eau Claire the Jeffs lost by a much closer score of 8-6. Senior co-captain shortstop Annalise Rodli, Tyler, Princi, and junior catcher Elizabeth Neckes all had key singles helping to make the score difference smaller.
For the second game of the day, the Jeffs faced Elmhurst College. Graham pitched six strong innings, with five strikeouts and no walks, but the Jeffs' offense could not hold on. Amherst led 2-1 for five innings but in the bottom of the sixth Elmhurst mustered two runs to take the lead and the game.
Yet, that was not the last Elmhurst heard from the Jeffs. The next day Amherst came back on fire to beat Elmhurst in the rematch by a score of 10-5. Neckes and Tyler provided the big hits for the Jeffs as Tyler went 3-for-3 with two runs and a pair of RBIs, and Neckes went 4-for-5 with three RBIs. Junior Sam Miller was tough on the mound for seven innings, allowing only seven hits and three earned runs.
Later that night, the Jeffs had another game to play against Babson College. Unfortunately, it did not end the same way as the match-up earlier in the day, as Amherst lost to the Beavers by a 6-1 score.
The last game of the trip ended the same way as the night before; Amherst lost to league rival Tufts University 15-2 in a non-conference match. The Jumbos' offense was too much for the Jeffs to handle, and Tufts pitcher Lauren Gelmetti gave up only four hits.
"We need to improve as a team in the field and with the bats," acknowledged Miller. "But our results in Cali.reflected that we had not yet made it outside at all before we left."
Rodli also saw room for improvement, but chose to focus on the positives. "Over break we saw our potential," she said. "We can string together hits with two outs, we can play tight defense. Babson is a top-five New England team and we outplayed them six of the seven innings."
NESCAC Notes
Bowdoin and Hamilton Colleges find themselves at opposite ends of the spectrum entering league play; the Polar Bears are 14-3 while the Continentals are 0-12.