BOSTON, Mass. – The Brandeis University softball team played its first games since returning to New England today and the Judges edged host Simmons College, 3-1 and 3-2 in eight innings, in a doubleheader. With the wins, the Judges improve to 8-2 on the season, while the Sharks fall to 5-6-1.

Sophomore Alex Cohen (West Palm Beach, Fla. / The Benjamin School) led the Judges by earning wins in both ends of the doubleheader. She tossed four innings of one-hit relief in the opening game with seven strikeouts and one unearned run, and another four innings with just one hit in the second game, adding six more Ks. Cohen improved to 4-1 on the season with the wins.

In game one, Brandeis jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Grad student Melissa Rothenberg (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence) tripled in a run and scored on a sacrifice fly by grad student Jolie Fujita (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) in the top of the first inning.

The Judges added their third run in the third inning on another sacrifice fly, this time off the bat of sophomore Haley Nash (Delmar, N.Y. / Bethlehem Central). Brandeis also got the defensive play of the game in the bottom of the frame. With runners on the corners and two outs, Rothenberg robbed Simmons's Shannon McMahon of a home run over the centerfield fence that would have tied the game.

The Sharks scored the team's only run in the sixth when leadoff hitter Allie Mulhearn reached on an error. Four batters later, she and McMahon executed a double-steal, with Mulhearn scoring just before McMahon was tagged out. Cohen then retired the side in order in the seventh to close things out. In addition to Rothenberg's RBI triple, junior 3B Marley Felder (Miami, Fla / American Heritage) went 2-3 with a double and 2 runs scored, while Cohen delivered a triple for her only hit.

In Game 2, it was Simmons who scored first when 1B Sam Barr hit a two-run homer off of starter Madeline Gorey (Lake George, N.Y. / Lake George). The Judges got the runs back in the fifth. With two away, pinch hitter Jamie Pippin (Redmond, Wash. / Lake Washington) was hit by a pitch. First-year catcher Tristan Boyer (Chesapeake, Va. / Grassfield) followed with a double that plated Pippen. Boyer advanced to third on the throw, then scored when the catcher threw the ball away trying to catch Boyer coming off the bag.

Both teams got runners on in the sixth without scoring, and both went in order in the seventh. In the top of the eighth, junior Tara Striggow (Cape Coral, Fla. / Cape Coral) was placed on second to start the frame. Two batters later, she came home on a double to left-centerfield by Felder to break the tie. Simmons bunted their courtesy runner to third to start the inning, but Cohen got a strikeout for the second out. She hit the next Shark batter, but ended the contest on a pop back into the circle.

Felder had two more hits, two of the team's five, while she, Boyer and first-year pinch hitter Anna Kolb (Alexandria, Va. / Thomas A. Edison) each doubled.  Felder finished the day going 4-7 with two runs, two doubles and the game-winning RBI in game two.

Brandeis returns to action on Tuesday with a doubleheader against WPI at 3:30 p.m.