The Brandeis softball team finished up UAA play in Florida last week. Brandeis won only one of its final five games while dropping four. For the UAA tournament, Brandeis went 2-6, winning its two games against Case Western Reserve and losing all of its games against Emory University, Washington University, and the University of Rochester.
Last Thursday, Brandeis took on the University of Rochester for the first time in the tournament. Brandeis put two runs on the board in the second inning when Christina McWilliams 07 smashed a single to center field with two outs, scoring Natalie Volpe 08 and Brianne Smith 06.
Caitlin Lukacs 07 then doubled to center, but Elissa Glucksman 06 struck out to end the rally. For the first four innings of the game, Volpe pitched a gem, allowing only four base runners in the four scoreless innings. Three singles in the fifth inning put Rochester on the board.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Rochester exploded for six runs on four hits and four walks. Despite two walks and a single, Brandeis could not score in the top of the seventh, resulting in Rochester coming from behind to win 7-2.
Brandeis played two games last Friday. The first was a rematch against Washington University, who won the first meeting 19-1.
Looking for revenge, Brandeis shed first blood in the second inning. Mari Levine 06 was on second base following a double when Samantha Worth 09 stepped up to the plate and whacked a single up the middle to score Levine. However, Washington exacted revenge in the bottom of the inning with four runs.
Brandeis continued their attack on the national ranked team in the fourth inning. With one out and the bases loaded, McWilliams knocked in Levine while reaching base on a fielding error. After Lukacs struck out, Glucksman walked, scoring Volpe in the process. But Amelia Schimmel 08 popped out to end the rally.
Washington then responded with six runs in the bottom of the inning. Washington won the game 11-3 when they scored their final run in the bottom of the sixth inning, invoking the mercy rule. Volpe pitched five innings, giving up the eleven earned runs, but striking out five in the process. Levine went 2-2 with two doubles and two of the three runs scored for Brandeis. Worth went 2-3 with an RBI.
Brandeis got its second win of the tournament later in the day when it defeated Case Western Reserve by a score of 7-1. Brandeis scored first for the third straight game when Levine knocked in Smith and Glucksman on a two-out single to short.
Case Western struck back with a run to start the second inning, but Brandeis put the game away for good in the bottom of the third. With the bases loaded and no out, Worth grounded out, knocking in Smith. Then, with two on, Danielle Mayer 08 smashed a 3-run shot over the right field fence, putting Brandeis up 6-1.
A run later in the inning made the score 7-1, which is how it stayed as both teams pitched shutout ball the rest of the way. Kaitlin Streilein 08 pitched the complete game, giving up only one run, two hits, and one walk. Mayer went 3-3 at the plate, including her first home run of the season.
Brandeis wrapped up tournament play on Saturday with two losses. In their first game, Brandeis lost to Emory University by a score of 10-2. Brandeis scored their only two runs in the top of the sixth inning when Streilein knocked in Glucksman when she reached on an error, followed by Schimmel scoring on a sacrifice fly to center by Smith.
The University of Rochester shut out Brandeis 8-0 to finish the tournament. Brandeis only got two hits, one by Smith and one by Marissa Rubin 07.
Overall, the pitching staff had an ERA of 6.62. Volpe and Streilein both went 1-3 on the mound. Volpe had a team leading .500 batting average and four doubles. Brandeis scored 22 runs over the eight games, with Glucksman having a team high six runs scored.
Coach Sullivan had the following to say on Brandeis play at the tournament.
On the whole I thought we played very well. A huge improvement over last year. Our record does not reflect how we played. We were in every game but one, and we worked very hard. A couple of mistakes here and there was the difference between winning and losing. Everyone was positive and we all came home with a good feeling for the start of the season.
Notes: Brandeis plays their first home game against Bates College on Saturday the 25th at 11 a.m.Washington University won the tournament, winning all eight games they played Samantha Worth 09 will miss at least two weeks with a stress fracture in her foot. She played with the stress fracture during the tournament in Florida.
