Ephs open New England slate with sweep of WNEC
SPRINGFIELD, MA. -- Be it from the circle, in the field or at the plate, the Williams College softball team executed when it had to Wednesday, sweeping a doubleheader from red-hot Western New England College, 2-1 and 5-4.
Williams improved to 6-9 with the sweep, while the Golden Bears slipped to 14-6 after their 11-game win streak was snapped. The Ephs are at Wesleyan for a single game Friday and a doubleheader Saturday.
"It was an exciting day, it's always exciting when you get a sweep," Ephs head coach Kris Herman said. "We had some great pitching from Mary Beth (Daub) and Caitlyn (Cain), we had some suicide squeezes that worked -- it was nice to see the team execute in key situations."
Williams took a 1-0 lead in game one with a run in the top of the third. Cain singled and scored when Becky Sansone ripped a triple to right field. The Ephs, who had three triples in the doubleheader, used the three-bagger to score a single run in the fifth as well. Joey Lye led off the frame with a triple. Cain scored her with a sacrifice fly.
Daub kept the hosts off the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth. Three hits and an error led to a run and WNEC had runners on second and third with one out when the Ephs right-hander fanned the next two batters.
Western New England put the tying run on second with one out in the seventh, but Daub induced two infield groundouts to end the game. The sophomore allowed just six hits and three walks while striking out 10 in her complete-game effort.
Sansone was 3 for 4 for the Ephs, and Cain was 2 for 3.
The nightcap was just as exciting. The Ephs fell behind 2-0 when WNEC scored twice in the bottom of the second, but answered with four runs in the top of the third. With one out, Oriana Mcgee tripled to center field. Lye's bunt single scored her. Cain reached on an error. A Sansone singled loaded the bases. Morgan Simpson then dropped a perfect suicide squeeze with the bases loaded that scored Lye.
Emily Fowler-Cornfeld then lined a two-run single that put Williams up, 4-2.
The Golden Bears scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game, 4-4. It stayed that way until the Williams seventh. Lye led off with a double. Cain dropped a sacrifice bunt to move Lye to third and Sansone hit a sacrifice fly to right to plate the go-ahead run.
Cain worked around an error in the bottom of the frame, inducing a groundout to second base to end the game. Cain allowed only four hits over seven innings. She did not walk a batter and struck out two. Only two of the four runs she gave up were earned.
Lye went 3 for 4 at the plate, knocking in one run and scoring two. Mcgee was 2 for 3 with a run scored.
