WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University softball team got back to its winning ways today as the Judges swept a non-conference doubleheader from visiting Lesley University, 9-1 in five innings in the opener and 7-2 in the nightcap. With the wins, Brandeis snapped a six-game skid to improve to 10-8. Lesley fell to 0-4 on the campaign.
In the opener, Lesley struck first, but the Judges answered by scoring in all four of their at-bats to end the game early, 9-1, in five innings.
The Lynx started fast with a lead-off double by SS Mahlia Medina, who moved to third on a comebacker to the circle and scored on a grounder to second.
Brandeis answered in the bottom of the first, taking advantage of a key Lesley error that put two runners on, as sophomore 3B Haley Nash (Delmar, N.Y. / Bethlehem Central) followed with a long home run to centerfield, her second of the season. With a 3-1 lead in the second, the Judges added two more runs on RBI singles by senior 2B Marley Felder (Miami, Fla / American Heritage) and grad student CF Melissa Rothenberg (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence).
In the third inning, Nash added her fourth RBI of the game with a single through the right side to make it 6-1. In the fourth, Rothenberg added another RBI hit, a double scorched down the leftfield line. Sophomore pitcher Alex Cohen (West Palm Beach, Fla./Benjamin School) helped her own cause with a two-run homer on the next pitch, making it 9-1 and allowing Cohen to close out the game in the next inning.
Cohen improved to 5-1 in the circle this season, allowing four hits and one earned run in five innings. She struck out five and walked one, throwing 66 of her 100 pitches for strikes. She also finished 2-for-3 with two runs, two RBI and a home run, her first of the season and the third of her career. Nash had the best offensive game for the Judges, going 3-for-3 with four RBI, her second home run of the season and the seventh of her career. It was Nash's second career game with four or more RBI.
Lesley's offense was paced by DP Megan Murphy, who had two of the team's four hits, while pitcher Jordan Day helped her own cause with the team's only RBI. Day pitched four innings and allowed 11 hits and nine runs (five earned), striking out three and walking three. She fell to 0-2 on the season.
In the second game, Brandeis jumped out to a 7-0 lead, pounding out 14 hits, as they held onto it for the 7-2 win. They got all the scoring they would need in the third inning, when Felder's single to right was booted down the line. That allowed rookie catcher Tristan Boyer (Chesapeake, Va. / Grassfield) to score and Felder to advance to third. Felder came home on Rothenberg's second double of the day, and Rothenberg scored the winning run on a passed ball.
In the third, senior Amidori Anderson (Sparks, Nev./Spanish Springs) led off with a home run to left field, making it 4-0. It was her third of the season, tied for the team lead, and the fourth of her career. The Judges increased their lead to 7-0 in the fourth, when Rothenberg led off with her third double of the day, followed by another RBI double by Cohen, an Nash's fifth RBI of the day, and an RBI single by graduate student SS Jolie Fujita (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) that made it 7-0. Brandeis had runners in scoring position in the fourth and fifth innings with a chance to end the game early, but the Lesley defense got them out of trouble.
The Lynx added single runs in the sixth, when junior pitcher Chandra Penton (Newton, Mass./Newton South) hit a batter with the bases loaded, but got out of the frame with two strikeouts, and in the seventh, on two singles, a walk and an RBI by 3B Ilana Zack. That run was the first earned run allowed by Penton in 12-plus innings this season.
Penton picked up the complete-game victory with the longest outing of her career. She improved to 2-0 on the season by scattering seven hits and allowing two runs (one earned). Penton struck out a career-high seven and walked three with two hit batters.
Offensively, eight of nine Brandeis hitters had hits, with the top five in the lineup each recording two. Each of the first six batters in the lineup had RBI, and six different players scored runs, with only Rothenberg crossing the plate twice.
Lesley's Samantha Mecklenburg suffered the loss, dropping to 0-2 on the campaign. She gave up 14 hits and seven earned runs in six innings. She walked three and struck out one. Day and Zack each had two hits, accounting for four of the Lynx's seven.
The Judges return to action on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. when they host Emory in the first game of a four-game University Athletic Association series.