FRAMINGHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University softball team used a combination of timely hitting and outstanding pitching today to defeat #24-ranked Framingham State University, 9-0 and 5-1, in Framingham. The Judges improve to 6-0 on the campaign, while the Rams saw a 13-game winning streak snapped as they fall to 17-3.
In the opener, junior pitcher Sydney Goldman (Sherman Oaks, Calif./Notre Dame) continued her dominating start to the campaign. Goldman faced just one batter over the minimum in six innings, striking out 12 of the 19 Ram batters she faced. Goldman allowed just one hit and one walk, with the latter erased on a caught stealing. Through three starts and 18 innings, Goldman has a 0.39 earned-run average, .071 opponents batting average and is striking out 14 batters per seven innings.
At the plate, the Judges scored two runs in the first, third, and fifth innings and three in the sixth to end the game early. In both the first and third frames, runs came home on an RBI double by senior SS Jolie Fujita (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) and an RBI single by rookie DP Alex Cohen (West Palm Beach, Fla./The Benjamin School). In the fifth, the two runs came courtesy rookie 3B Haley Nash's (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) team-leading second home run of the season. In the sixth, senior CF Melissa Rothenberg (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence) hit a two-run triple and scored on a Marley Felder (Miami, Fla./American Heritage School) ground out.
In the second game, the Brandeis offense started strong again, scoring three times in the top of the first. Felder reached on an error that allowed Rothenberg to score, and Fujita belted her third run-producing double of the day. Fujita scored two batters later on Nash's groundout to give the visitors the 3-0 lead, al the scoring they would need. A Felder single and a misplay in right field in the seventh gave the Judges some breathing room.
In the circle, Cohen worked in and out of trouble all day. The Rams got on the board in the fourth on a triple by 3B Kirsten Dick followed by an RBI groundout by DP Payton Ceglarski. FSU managed to load the bases in each of the next three innings, but Cohen managed to escape unscathed each time, getting a key one-out strikeout in the fifth followed by a grounder to second, another grounder to second in the sixth, and a pop back to the circle to end the game.
Cohen finished with seven innings of four-hit ball. She struck out six FSU batters, but also walked six and hit three more. She improved to 2-0.
Offensively, across the two games, Fujita went 3-6 with three doubles, three RBI and four runs scored. Rothenberg was 3-7 with a double, a triple, and five runs scored.
Brandeis and Framingham State will meet for two more games on Sunday, March 18, at FSU.