The Jeffs made the clean sweep of Hamilton in three well-played games. Amherst showed its ability to pitch, hit and come back in pressure situations. No matter what the visiting Continentals threw their way, the Jeffs remained a few swings ahead of them. The Lord Jeffs handed Hamilton its 13th, 14th and 15th losses of the season, helping to bring Amherst back to an even 6-6 record.
The Jeffs started their weekend strong in their home opener on Friday, sending a message in their first NESCAC game. Amherst played a solid game against an outmatched opponent, with the exception of an unearned run in the top of the first inning, resulting in an outstanding 9-4 win.
Pitcher Alex Chang-Graham '10 and shortsrop Emily Neil '10 both came up huge in their home debuts.After the Jeffs shook their jitters and gave up an unearned run in the top of the first, they never looked back. In the second, the Jeffs pushed the lead up to 5-1. It took all the way until the fifth inning for Hamilton to mount a fight. Neil contributed with a couple sac flys before knocking in her second homerun of the season. This game brought the Jeffs back up to 4-6 on the season and earned them a very important 1-0 record in the NESCAC.
Saturday held lieu to the two, three punch of the weekend, pitting the Jeffs against the Continentals for the third game in less than a 24-hour period. The first game started as much more of a back-and-forth slugfest, as both teams were able to put runs on the scoreboard. The second frame saw the first scores of the day, a three-run inning for Amherst highlighted by the Jeffs' second bomb of the weekend. Senior co-captain third baseman Caroline Polales hit a long and high shot to left-center that just cleared the fence. It looked like Amherst might run away with the victory, but Hamilton showed some fight and the Jeffs eventually found themselves trailing.
The Continentals came back in the third with their backs on the ropes with two outs, but drove in three runs of their own. The Continentals came back and turned the tables in the fifth, capitalizing on a Jeff throwing error, and went up 5-3. A rally put together by junior catcher Elizabeth Neckes and Polales, though, brought the Jeffs back even after the sixth frame. The Continentals went back on top with what seemed to be the game-winning solo shot in the seventh by Amber O'Connor.
However, now it was the Jeffs' turn to come back. First-year centerfielder Jackie Tyler came out with a double in the bottom of the seventh to start the game-winning rally, which was capped off by another sac fly by another first-year (Neil) to tie the game. Neckes came through again when her team needed her by roping in the game-winning RBI up the middle, giving the Jeffs the 7-6 win.
Game two of the double header seemed like the breakthrough that Hamilton needed to salvage the weekend. The Continentals came out strong in the first-inning putting up three early runs, all of which were unearned from Jeff errors. But by the second inning Amherst had reassumed its dominance of the weekend, going up a run on the back of Tyler's two-run RBI deep down the left field line. Upperclass leadership capped off the weekend with junior designated hitter Ralina Shaw belting in a two-run homer in the sixth, while junior Samantha Miller mowed down Hamilton batters, allowing no runs for the last six innings of the game, giving Amherst the 6-3 victory. Miller allowed only six hits, without a single earned run in her seven innings of work, capturing her second W of the season.
The weekend ended with the Jeffs crushing the Continentals in the games and starting off their NESCAC season with three wins. Amherst has three hitters batting over .400, with Neckes and Trace at .425 and .409, respectively and Tyler hitting the hardest at .667 and slugging a big-time 1.033 percentage.
"I thought we played extremely well," said Shaw. "We of course, as with any team, have things to work on. But we hit really well and scored when it counted. It was a great start to the NESCAC season. Hopefully in the weeks to come we will continue to improve and end the season at the top of our game."
Yesterday, the Jeffs were on the short side of games in a double header against Clark University.
In the first game the Jeffs dropped a 5-1 decision. The game was 0-0 through the first six innings, as both pitchers dominated. Miller pitched a wonderful game and at one point retired 12 straight batters. However, the seventh inning killed the Jeffs as they surrendered a grandslam and five runs total. Amherst did muster one run in the bottom half of the innings, but fell 5-1.
Shortly after the first game, the two teams headed back onto the field to play what would be another exciting game. The Cougars were still hot from the final inning of the previous game and scored four quick runs in the first inning off sophomore pitcher Maddie Tamagni. They extended the lead to six in the second inning, and it looked as though the Jeffs were going to be blown out of their homefield.
However, like the Jeffs have shown in the past, they do not give up when they are trailing. Polales put the Jeffs on the scorebaord with an RBI single in the bottom of the second, driving in senior shortstop Annalise Rodli. Tamagni settled down and shut out the Cougars in the third inning, giving Amherst the momentum. Shaw put the Jeffs right back into it with a two-run homer to make the game 6-4.
Going into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Jeffs trailed 7-5 and tied the game up with a two run homerun by Neil with two outs, sending the game to extra innings. In the top of the eighth the Cougars put two runs on the board and the Jeffs were only able to match one in the bottom of the half, ultimately falling 9-8.
Despite the losses, the Jeffs played competitive softball and were just on the wrong side of two close games to fall to 6-8 on the season.
NESCAC Notes
Trinity College sits at the top of the East section of the standings with a 3-0 NESCAC record, just ahead of 2-1 Tufts University. Amherst is at the top of the West standings, with a 3-0 NESCAC record, ahead of 2-1 Williams College.