AMHERST, Mass. -- A game of individual firsts led to a team first Friday as the Amherst College rallied to steal the second game of a doubleheader from Little 3 and NESCAC rival Wesleyan, 9-8, on the Amherst Softball Field.
First-year
Jenna Holmes and sophomore Olivia Aitken hit their first collegiate home runs, while first-year hurler
Annalise Knop picked up her first collegiate victory with a scoreless outing. It all added up to the Mammoths first conference win.
Amherst improved to 4-9 overall and 1-1 in the NESCAC. Wesleyan fel to 7-9 overall and 1-3 in conference play. The Mammoths are off until Saturday, April 6th, when they host Tufts UNiversity in a twinbill beginning at 11 a.m.
Game 2: Amherst 9, Wesleyan 8
* After losing the first game Friday 9-0 in a 5-inning mercy-rule game, the Mammoths wasted no time getting up off the mat. In the bottom of the second, Holmes crushed a sizzling liner over the fence in left for her first home run, giving Amherst a 1-0 lead.
* With one out in the third,
Randi Finkelstein roped a double into right-center field.
Emma Nordstrom followed with a blast down the left-field line that found grass for an RBI-double and a 2-0 lead.
Sadie Pool beat out a grounder into the shortstop hole and Holmes reached on a fielder's choice as another run scored. After the second out of the frame, Aitken got all of an offering, driving it well over the left-field fence for a three-run home runs and a 6-0 Amherst lead.
* It was 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth when Pool came through with a two-out, RBI-double ro right center to make it 7-2.
* Wesleyan rallied for six runs in the top of the fifth to take an 8-7 lead, the big blow a grand slam home run off the left-field foul pole -- all three-feet of it -- by Wesleyan's Kelly Baker.
* The Mammoths responded in their half of the fifth.
Abby Moravek singled and Aitken drew a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs. Knop dropped down a sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners to second and third. With two outs,
Heidi Li topped a roller to third. The trow to first arrived in time but off the bag. Li and the first sacker collided, with the ball falling out of the glove and rolling into foul territory as both Mammoth runners scored.
* Knop made that stand up. With runners on the corners and two outs in the top of the sixth, she induced an inning-ending groundout. With the tying run on third and two outs in the top of the seventh, she dropped in a called third strike to end the game.
BY THE NUMBERS:
* Nordstrom and Pool each went 3 for 4 with a run scored an and RBI in the win. Aitken was 2 for 2 with a walk, two runs scored and three RBI.
* Knop went the final 2 1/3 innings, allowing three hits but no runs. She walked no one and fanned two to improve to 1-2.
