AMHERST, Mass. – Opening the 2021 season with a three-game sweep, the Amherst College softball team had no problem returning to form after a 389-day haitus from competition as the Mammoths shut out Wesleyan University in Saturday's doubleheader and tacked on a 8-5 win in game three to total 23 runs during the series and push their record to 3-0.
The Mammoths return to action in two weeks' time when they host Hamilton College for a doubleheader on Saturday, April 17 beginning at 2:00PM.
GAME ONE | Amherst 7, Wesleyan 0 | Box Score
Impressing during their first at bat of the season, the Mammoths jumped out to a 3-0 lead as
Autumn Lee '23 tallied the Mammoths first RBI of 2021 with a hard-hit double to deep center field to score
Rachel Lovejoy '23 who had reached base after showing patience at the plate and earning a walk. With one out and runners on second and third, a
Jess Butler '23 ground out made it a 2-0 game before a Cardinal error allowed for one more run Amherst run.
After two innings of scoreless action, Amherst padded their lead with a four-run fourth to set the score at 7-0 in favor of the home team. Drawing back-to-back walks to open the inning, a
Megan Taketa'23 single loaded the bases before Lee once again came through in the clutch, sending a hit up the middle to score two runs.
Sadie Pool '24 was credited with the final two RBIs of the contest, with the first-year ripping a single with the bases loaded.
Defensively, the Mammoths also put on a strong showing, limiting the Cardinals to five or fewer batters in six of the seven innings. One of the best defensive plays by either side came from senior
Alyson Plaman in the seventh, with the Bloomington, Minn. native laying out in foul territory down the first base line to record the first out.
Talia Bloxham '22 (1-0) claimed the win in the circle for Amherst, striking out nine and giving up just one hit in the complete game shutout, while Brooklin Williams (0-1) took the loss for the visitors, giving up nine hits. Lee led all players with three RBI and three hits.
GAME TWO | Amherst 8, Wesleyan 0 (5 inn.) | Box Score
After leaving runners on third in each of the first two innings, the Mammoths broke through in the bottom of the third to take a 1-0 lead.
With Lovejoy on second base after leading off the inning with a double, a flyout by Pool moved Lee to third before Butler recorded her second RBI of the day on a single through the right side.
Retiring the side in order in each of the next two innings to hold onto the one-run lead heading into the bottom of the fifth, Amherst would not allow the Cardinals to see another at bat as they erupted for seven runs to register an 8-0, run-rule victory.
Ryan, Taketa, Lee, Pool all earned RBIs in the inning, with Pool's bases loaded, two out triple getting the Mammoths to the eight-run threshold.
First-year
Maddie Procyk (1-0) picked up her first collegiate victory in her debut for Amherst, pitching a 5.0 inning complete game shutout while allowing two hits and striking out two. Five of Amherst's nine batters notched two hits in the game. Revi Brown (0-1) was the losing pitcher for the Cardinals, giving up 12 hits and seven runs in 4.2 inning of work.
GAME THREE | Amherst 8, Wesleyan 5 | Box Score
Taking advantage of a Wesleyan error, the Mammoths opened scoring in Middletown, Conn. during their first at bat to take a 1-0 edge.
Wesleyan then logged their first run of the series, responding in the bottom half via a Hannah Docktor single up the middle.
Retaking the lead in the second, Amherst added two more scores to the board to go ahead, 3-1 before a Taketa single and error by the home team set the score at 5-1 at the end of the fourth.
A base hit by Bloxham in the sixth scored Plaman who had doubled to left field a batter earlier, and a three-hit top of the seventh gave Amherst two more runs in the scorebook.
Looking to battle back in their final chance at the plate, the Cardinals used three singles, two walks, and a hit by pitch to get back within striking distance, but only four runs would cross the plate before the final out as Amherst clinched the 8-5 victory and series sweep.
In the circle, Procyk (2-0) earned the victory, striking out five and allowing one run in the first 4.0 innings, while Bloxham was credited with the save after pitching the final 3.0 innings in relief.
