Softball bats come alive in 10-2 & 8-0 wins over Worcester State

WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University softball team had its two biggest outputs of the season today, sweeping a doubleheader from the visiting Worcester State College Lancers, 10-2 and 8-0.

Brandeis (4-8) was led by rookie SS Chelsea Korp, a Worcester native. Korp went 6-for-8 on the day with a double, three RBI and four runs scored. She drove in the walk-off run in the bottom of the fifth of the second game. Junior RF Natalie Volpe (Southington, Conn.) also had a big afternoon, going 4-for-7 with four RBI and three runs scored.

Worcester State (1-9) struggled on the day, managing just five hits in the two contests. The Lancers scored two runs on one hit in the first inning of the day, taking advantage of a Brandeis error in the outfield with two outs to score their runs. Sophomore 1B Ashley Nye (Marion, Mass.) was their only multiple hitter on the afternoon, going 2-3 in the opener.

After falling behind, 2-0, in game one, Brandeis answered with five runs in the bottom of the first, stringing together three straight hits to tie the score and taking advantage of a Worcester State error to open up the lead. They added two more runs in the fourth inning when junior DP Danielle Mayer (Larkspur, Calif.) homered to deep center field. It was her third round-tripper of the season. The Judges closed the game out in the sixth on an RBI single by senior catcher Christina McWilliams (Billerica, Mass.). Rookie pitcher Emily Vaillette (Milford, N.H.) picked up her first collegiate win with six innings of strong work, striking out four and walking just two. Sophomore Jessalyn Hyland (Swansea, Mass.) suffered the loss for the Lancers.

In the first inning of game two, Korp, who went 4-4, singled with one out, stole second and scored on a single back up the middle by Volpe for all the offense the Judges would need. Brandeis strung together four hits in a row in the third inning and five straight in the fourth, scoring three runs in each. In the bottom of the fifth, runners were on second and third following a wild pitch. With the infield pulled in Korp singled up the middle to make a winner out of rookie pitcher Allie Mussen (Franklin Square, N.Y.). Mussen tossed a complete-game one-hitter, striking out four and walking two to improve to 1-2 on the season. WSC senior LF Brittany Rheault (Oxford, Mass.) had the Lancers' only hit, a single in the fourth inning.

Brandeis next takes on St. Joseph's (Maine) College in a doubleheader at 3:00 p.m..