Since playing their first games of the season in California, the softball team continued on with several wins at home. The team now possesses a season record of 9-1, a University Athletic Association (UAA) record of 4-0 for the season and an undefeated record for home games. With impressive showings on both the offensive and defensive sides of the game, the softball team has had an excellent start to their 2023 season.
Starting off their March games, the softball team played a double header against the Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT) in Boston on Saturday, March 18. The first inning started with a run for the Judges with third baseman Haley Nash ’24 driving in Erin Hunt ’26 off of a double to left field. The following four innings were scoreless for both teams. To follow, in the sixth inning, Nash produced another hit for the Judges. This time it was a home run to left center field. Following Nash’s first homer of the season, the sixth inning concluded with the Judges leading 2-0 over the WIT Leopards. In the final inning of the game, Hunt drove in Lily Medici ’23 off of a double to left field. The game concluded with the Judges winning 3-0. The Judges could not have pulled off this win without Ragini Kannan ’26 pitching her second game of the season, nearly a no-hitter. Allowing only one hit from WIT, Kannan struck out 12 and only walked two.
In their afternoon game against the WIT Leopards, the game started off scoreless until the fifth inning. Alex Cohen ’24 and Medici each scored runs off of fielding errors in the fifth. Three of the Judges’ four runs during the game were scored in the fifth inning with Cohen hitting a double as well. To round out their scoring for the day, the Judges earned a final run in the sixth inning with Elle Ehrlich ’26 earning an RBI off of a single to center, scoring Hunt. The game concluded 4-0 as the Judges collected their second win of the day against WIT. On the defensive side of the game, Cohen pitched a career game, striking out 15 batters and only walked one. With only three hits given up to WIT, Cohen’s complete game of pitching earned her an improved 1-1 record for pitching this season. Three hits was also a career low for Cohen. For overall stats on the day, Hunt led the Judges with a 5-for-8 record at the plate, hitting three doubles, scoring three runs, and stealing three bases. Following was Medici with a 4-for-6 hitting record on the day, earning two runs and hitting a triple and a double.
The Judges had a double header scheduled against Thomas College of Maine on the following day; however, it was postponed due to cold temperatures and wind chill. The makeup date for these games is to be announced.
On Tuesday, March 21, the softball team hosted a double header against Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) in their home opener. The first game of the day started off strong with three runs from the Judges, two of which coming from a two-run homer from Cohen. The second inning was scoreless, but the Judges earned a run in the third. In the fourth inning, Nash crushed another two-run homer making the score 6-0 over ENC. Though the fifth inning was scoreless, the Judges closed out the game with two final runs in the sixth. The final score was 8-0, Judges. Cohen and Nash started off the final inning with getting on base, and were driven home by a single by Anna Kolb ’25 and a grounder to second by pinch-hitter Andrea Perez-Ramirez ’26. Cohen continued on with her successful season, having a 4-for-4 hitting record on the day, earning two RBI, three runs scored, a double and her first home run of the season. This win could not have been possible without the impressive pitching by Kannan. Having struck out 12 batters, walking only one and allowing just three hits, Kannan reached 19 consecutive scoreless innings pitched. Through this showing, she also lowered her earned run average (ERA) to 0.69.
In their second game of the day against ENC, the Judges started off the game strong, scoring five runs in the first inning, despite having let up one run in the top of the first. This was the only run the Judges allowed ENC to score against them in the double header. With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Nash hit a single to keep the inning alive and get on base. To follow Cohen’s successful at bat, Nash hit her second homer of the day to drive in herself and Cohen. Still, with two outs in the inning, ENC pitcher walked the next two Brandeis batters. With two on base, Bells Burdenski ’26 crushed her third home run of the season to left-center to conclude the scoring for the first inning. The Judges followed the first with another four runs in the bottom of the second. The Judges produced these four runs in the second off of an RBI from Ehrlich, Kolb and a two-run hit from Tristan Boyer ’25. The Judges’ scoring concluded for the day with a final RBI off of a double from Cohen. The game concluded with a score of 10-1 against ENC. The pitching was a team effort by Cohen pitching the first four innings and Chandra Penton ’23 pitching the final inning. Having let up only one run, Cohen struck out eight and did not allow any walks. Penton threw a hitless fifth inning, allowing just one walk. Cohen went 7-for-7 on the day with three RBI, and five runs scored, a home run and two doubles. Nash finished the day with a 4-for-7 record at the plate with four RBI, four runs scored and two home runs. This moved Nash into eighth place on the Judges’ career list with a total of 15 homers.
Moving on to the final four games of this recap, the Judges started their four-game weekend against the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Tartans on Friday, March 24 with a double-header. This was the Tartans’ first time playing against Brandeis in Waltham. All eight of their previous matchups were held on their campus in Pittsburgh. The Tartans scored first with a home run in the second inning. This broke Kannan’s 20-inning streak of hitless pitching. The Judges responded in the bottom of the second with Cohen’s second two-run homer of the season to put the Judges ahead 2-1. The Judges scored another nine runs in the sixth and final inning to conclude the game with a score of 11-1 over the Tartans. The nine runs in the sixth were scored off of two RBI doubles, from Boyer and Medici, as well as a three-run homer from Kolb, the first homer of her career. Pitching the entire game, Kannan struck out seven and only walked one batter. This earned her an improved pitching record of 4-0 for her rookie season thus far.
For the second game against CMU on Friday, the Judges started off the scoring with an RBI from Cohen. Hunt was already on base off of an error-produced double and was thus driven in my Cohens hit. CMU responded in the second inning with a sacrifice fly. However, the Judges eliminated their hopes of coming back as they scored an additional five runs in the bottom of the second, making the score 7-1 over the Tartans. The scoring in the second started with Maddie Manes ’26 hitting a two-run homer, this was her first home run as a Judge. To follow, Hunt scored off of a two-run triple and was later driven in by a sacrifice fly to close out the second inning. The following two innings were scoreless. In the fifth and final inning of the day, the Judges scored three more runs off of an RBI single from pinch-hitter Sofia Micale ’23 and two walked in runs. The game concluded with a score of the Judges beating the Tartans 9-1. Cohen concluded the game having struck out five and not walking any batters. Burdenski was the only multiple hitter for the Judges in this game, having hit a double and scoring two runs. Hunt also had an impressive game going 1-for-3 at the plate but earning three RBI and two scored runs.
In their single game against CMU on the following day, the scoring was at a minimum with the Judges winning by a mere 1-0 final score. The bottom of the first inning was interesting due to the play calling. Due to several illegal pitches thrown by the CMU pitcher, the Judges were able to load the bases off of a single, a fielder’s choice and a walk. The Judges were caught off guard by the abnormal call for ball four and unfortunately were tagged out for the third out of the inning before they could score a run. The only run of the game was scored by the Judges in the bottom of the second. Manes started off the hitting in the second with a double, and was followed by Burdenski who walked. The two Judges were bunted into scoring position, and then Manes scored off of a sacrifice fly by Medici. Each team was able to escape several potential scoring scenarios, leaving the remainder of the game scoreless. Following the third inning Kannan retired 16 of the remaining 17 batters in the game, having struck out seven. Kannan improved her season record to 5-0 and ERA to 0.64 after this game.
In their final game of their four-game weekend against CMU, the Judges started off slow. The Tartans were able to break through in the third with three runs after a scoreless first two innings. The Judges were not discouraged by this, though. In the bottom of the third they responded with three runs of their own to tie the game. The scoring for the Judges started with Burdenski getting into scoring position off of a double. She was later driven home by a sacrifice bunt from Kolb. The other two runs were scored off of a sacrifice fly from Ehrlich and a single from Manes. To follow a scoreless top of the fifth inning, the Judges continued on with the scoring as they added five additional runs to the board by the end of the inning. The scoring in the fifth started with Cohen hitting her third home run of the season, this one being a three-run homer as two Judges were already on base. The final two points were earned off of a crushed two-run single by Manes. Cohen pitched the first four innings and was relieved by Kannan to close out the game.
Based on her impressive pitching, first-year Ragini Kannan was named UAA pitcher of the week this week. Additionally, due to her impressive offensive play, fellow Judge junior Alex Cohen ’24 was named UAA hitter of the week this week as well.
Looking ahead, the Judges hope to continue their win streak in Atlanta as they play against conference opponent Emory University this weekend in a four-game set.
