This past week, the Brandeis softball team opened up the East Coast portion of their season. Since this, they have played seven games; two against the Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT) at home, three against Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and two games this week against the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMD).
Their first game back home on Brandeis soil after starting off their season with a rocky ten-game California trip was played against the WIT as a part of a double header on March 15. The first game of this doubleheader was slow for the Judges. Having multiple weeks off after getting back from California may have taken their toll, leading the bats to be cold. Only three hits were made by the Judges in this game, totaling to zero runs. Unfortunately, they let up six runs to the WIT Leopards. Despite this, the first three runs WIT got were off of solo home runs, two of which were hit by the same player in two different innings. The top performer for the Judges in this game was Brooke Boehmer ’27 who went 1-2 with a stolen base and a hit batter.
In the Judges’ second game against WIT that day, they came back with a vengeance, but still fell short of their first win on home turf. WIT came on strong in the first two innings of this game, scoring five runs in the first two innings. They followed this up with three more runs in the fifth inning which accounted for all of the eight runs they scored in this game. On the Judges’ side of things, they earned a run in the first inning off of an RBI double hit by Haley Nash (GRAD). Later, the Judges scored another three runs in the third inning. They were able to do so by getting Boehmer ’27 to the plate with the bases loaded. She hit a line drive to second which drove in one run but it also resulted in the runner going to third to get tagged out. Next, Nash (GRAD) singled afterwards to reload the bases. Anna Kolb ’25 then came to the plate and made a great hit to third base that allowed two more runners to score. Another Brandeis walk after this loaded the bases once more, but the Leopards’ pitcher came through to close out the inning 5-4. In the bottom of the sixth, the Judges put runners on second and third after an error by WIT. Mary Doud ’28 singled to short and Maddie Manes ’26 followed with a sacrifice fly to make the score 8-6, though the Judges could not get any closer to the win than that. Despite the loss, Judge-pitcher Ragini Kannan ’26 made her season debut after some injury struggles, so this was an exciting positive to come out of the day.
Next, the Judges traveled to face the #23-ranked Emory University Eagles for their University Athletic Association (UAA) Conference opener this past weekend. Their first game against the Eagles was tight for the Judges as they had only one less hit than the Eagles, yet were unable to overcome that deficit in runs, as they ultimately lost the game 4-3. The Judges’ only three runs in this game came in a trio in the third inning. This scoring sequence started off with a walk by Manes ’26, then Nash (GRAD) hit a single, Kolb ’26 hit a double that drove the two previous Judges on base home, and then Tristan Boyer ’25 hit a single which allowed Kolb ’26 to score. This made the score 3-1, putting the Judges in the lead. However, this did not last for long as the Eagles bounced back to score a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth.
The following day, the Judges lost twice more to the Eagles. In the first game, they were out-scored by ten runs for a final score of 3-13. The game was only played for five innings as the Eagles put the game on the eight-run rule clock after the fourth inning. Despite the loss, an exciting moment from this game was when Haley Nash (GRAD) hit her first home run of the season which coincidentally tied the Brandeis career home run record with #31. For a dismal game, this was an exciting way to motivate the Judges to keep their heads up and keep working towards their season goals.
In their last game in Atlanta, the Judges lost once more, but this time it was a much smaller margin; 2-6. The game started off exceptionally slow as no runs were hit until the third inning, when the Eagles went on to score all six of their runs. Two innings later, the Judges tried to bounce back by scoring two runs, but that was not enough to win against the Emory Eagles. The two hits the Judges did make were earned by Bells Burdenski ’26 getting a double, Boyer ’25 got a fielder’s choice, Fiona Doiron ’25 made a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners, Katie Baydian ’27 singled to score Burdenski ’26 and to finish it off Manes ’26 had a sacrifice fly out to score Boyer ’25.
To round out the games, the Judges just faced UMass Dartmouth at home this past Tuesday. They excitingly split this doubleheader against Corsairs. The first game of the day was another loss for the Judges, being out-scored 12-4. However, they had a very exciting second game as they not only won, but Haley Nash (GRAD) also set the program record for career home runs hit, now leading the program with 32 home runs.
The Judges’ win against UMass Dartmouth was nothing short of amazing. They scored a total of 10 runs while first-year pitcher Jamie Staub ’28 tossed a complete game, holding the Corsairs to just four total hits. The Judges’ first run came in the bottom of the first when Boehmer ’27 singled with runners on the corners. Then Boyer ’25 then hit a grounder through a UMass player’s legs, allowing the ball to roll all the way to the fence. This allowed two more runs to score. The Judges’ next runs were one in the third, one in the fourth, and they closed it out with five in the bottom of the sixth. The run in the third was Nash’s record-setting home run and the run in the fourth was another solo homer, this time hit by Elle Ehrlich ’26 which was the first of her season. Then in the fifth, Baydian ’28 and Boehmer ’27 both drove home two runs. This win concluded the Judges’ 12-game losing streak and helped to set the tone for the season ahead.
Looking ahead, the Judges will face the New York University (NYU) Violets this weekend with a doubleheader on Friday, March 28, and another game on Saturday, the 29th. As these games will be played at home, make sure to come down to the softball field to support your Judges!
