CLERMONT, Fla. -- Junior
Abby Moravek fanned a career-high 12 batters Thursday and then the offense took over, exploding for 13 runs as the Amherst College softball team bounced back nicely from its first defeats of the season to sweep a Spring Games twinbill, 3-2 over Fredonia and 13-6 vs. Plattsburgh State.
The wins lifted Amherst to a 6-2 record heading into another doubleheader Friday. The Mammoths will face another team from New York State, New paltz, at 11:30 a.m. before taking on the Milwaukee School of Engineering at 2:30 p.m. at Hancock Park.
Game 1, Amherst 3, Fredonia State 2
* Moravek opened the game by striking out the first five batters she faced, all on swinging third strikes.
* Her teammates gave her some early run support, scoring single runs in the second and third for a 2-0 lead.
Dani Torres Werra reached on an error, advanced to second on a wild pitch and took third when first-year catcher
Laura Daniels ripped a single through the shortstop hole. Her classmate,
May Mishima, then dropped down a beautiful bunt on the first-base side for a nicely executed squeeze as Torres Werra scored for a 1-0 lead.
* In the Amherst third, Leppard reached on an error and took second on a
Abby Rebhan single. Torres Werra followed with a ground single up the middle to score Leppard and make it 2-0.
* In the meantime, Moravek ran her string of consecutive outs to 10 before a walk ended it. She fanned seven over the first three frames. Two errors on the same play cost her a run in the fourth, and then a bloop double and a passed ball allowed Fredonia to tie the game in the fifth.
* The Mammoths rallied in the sixth. With one out, Daniels rocketed ball into the win that missed leaving the park by a couple of feet and went for a double. With two outs,
Dylan Briggs lined a single to center to score pinch-runner Hiedi Li for the eventual game-winning run.
* In the Fredonia seventh, Moravek fanned the first two batters before snaring a line drive back to the circle to complete her masterpiece. She allowed just one hit, the bloop double, while walking one and ending with 12 punchouts to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Game 2, Amherst 13, Plattsburgh 6
* The Mammoths erupted for seven runs in the top of the first, and ultimately that would be enough as they overcame six errors to emerge victorious.
* Lead-off batter
Lauren Ro, another first-year, ignited the rally when she chopped a single over the head of the third baseman for a single.
Olivia Aitkin sacrifced her to second.
Lulu Leppard then singled up the middle to score Ro, taking third on an errant throw. After an out, Torres Werra singled up the middle to score Leppard for a 2-0 lead.
Emma Nordstrom then ripped a liner down the left-field line, and
Anna Primozic followed by lashing an RBI-single to left center.
* Mashima followed with a single to right that loaded the bases. Briggs then blooped a two-run single into right-center for a 5-0 lead. A two-run error off a grounder by Ro, batting for the second time in the frame, made it 7-0. Amherst had seven hits in the first inning and finished with a season-high 16.
* Plattsburgh State kept battling and made it 9-5 in the bottom of the sixth with the tying run at the plate, but Torres Werra induced to key grounders that resulted in forceouts to quell the threat.She picked up her 2nd win of the season, going the distance (seven innings) and allowing 14 hits while walking one and striking out one.
* The Mammoths put the game away with a four-run seventh as Li and Leppard each had two-run singles.
* Six different Mammoths had two hits in the win: Lo, Aitkin, Leppard, Torres Werra, Primozi and Mishima.
