The softball team has been here before. In a repeat of last season’s final week of NESCAC play, the Jeffs’ conference playoff hopes rest on their upcoming games against Little Three rivals Wesleyan University and Williams College. The Amherst team narrowly missed the NESCAC tournament in 2008 when they just failed to sweep their three-game series against the Ephs of Williams.
Amherst has won six out of its last seven games, proving that it is a force to be reckoned with. After defeating Pioneer Valley rival Smith College on Wednesday, the Jeffs traveled to Middlebury where they came away victorious in two out of the weekend’s three contests. Completing three straight days of competition, Amherst defeated Hamilton College in an impressive fashion on Sunday, outscoring them 11-3.
The Jeffs started off their series against Middlebury on a high note, scoring three runs in the first inning of the first game. Amherst scored in each of its five innings, including a massive six-run top of the fifth and outhit its opponents 18-5.
Middlebury returned on Saturday with renewed energy and focus, giving the Jeffs a much harder time both on defense and offense. Neither squad scored a run until first-year infielder Steph Clegg hit a two-run home run followed by a solo homer from fellow rookie catcher Annemarie Iker.
The Jeffs added three more runs in the top of the fifth off of hits by senior outfielder Julia Cummings, rookie short stop Carly Dudzik and co-captain first-baseman Maddie Tamagni ’09. The Jeffs’ six-run lead was short-lived as Middlebury tied up the game in the bottom of the inning, taking advantage of four Amherst errors and then taking a six-run lead in the sixth inning. Though the Jeffs responded with two more runs, they were unable to force extra innings.
Once again, it took four innings for either team to tally a run in the final match of the series, but Amherst finally took a one-run lead. After Middlebury had tied up the game, hits by Tamagni and Dudzik allowed the Jeffs to take home the victory.
“There were some defensive errors in a few innings that we can clean up, but other than that we had a great series against Midd. It was great to get two out of the three games, which has been a primary goal of ours for each series,” said Dudzik.
The Jeffs returned home to take on Hamilton on Sunday, with whom they had previously split a doubleheader. The first inning saw each team hitting well as the Jeffs went up 3-2. Going into the bottom of the fifth with a narrow one-run lead, Amherst was determined to end the game. They did just that, scoring seven runs off of five hits to end the game.
“I think the team did a great job of relaxing at the plate and stringing together base hits against Hamilton,” said Dudzik. “We focused on being aggressive and attacking the ball. We also did a great job of making the plays and had very clean defense. I think getting those games against Middlebury and Hamilton has given us confidence that we can take into next weekend against Williams.”
Currently Wesleyan, Williams and Amherst are all tied at first place in the NESCAC with matching records of 6-3. Thus, the Lord Jeffs’ upcoming games against the two schools will determine whether they will be one of the two teams in their division to advance to the conference tournament. The team hopes to have a fate different than last year’s.