PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Brandeis University softball team earned a doubleheader split and a series victory today against Carnegie Mellon University. The Tartans took the opener, 5-1, but the Judges won a 12-10 slugfest in game two to take the University Athletic Association series, 3-1. With the win, the Judges are now 17-11 on the season, 5-7 in the UAA. CMU falls to 14-12, 5-6 UAA.
In the opener, the Judges were thwarted by CMU pitcher Amanda Smith. Smith (4-2) held Brandeis to just four hits and one earned run. She walked two and struck out a career-high 13. The Judges' lone run came in the fifth inning on back-to-back doubles by senior 2B Marley Felder (Miami, Fla / American Heritage) and grad student SS Jolie Fujita (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School).
CMU open the scoring in the first inning against Brandeis sophomore Alex Cohen (West Palm Beach, Fla./Benjamin School), getting a one-out single from Megan Hu, who advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on a single by 3B Emily Finger. The Tartans scored the game-winning runs in the fourth inning on a two-run home run by catcher Piper Johnson, and Hu added a two-run shot in the sixth to close out the scoring. Cohen took the loss to fall to 8-3 on the season.
In game 2, the bats came alive for both teams, as they combined for 22 runs and 22 hits. Seven of Brandeis's hits went for extra bases, while three of nine did for the Tartans.
Fujita wielded a big bat in the second game, going 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. She bashed her second home run in as many days in the third inning, a two-run shot that cut into a 3-0 CMU lead. First-year 1B Fiona Doiron (Charlton, Mass. / Marianapolis Prep.) followed with a two-run double, her first collegiate extra-base hit to give Brandeis a 4-3 lead.
Carnegie Mellon tied things up in the bottom of the third, but Brandeis scored the next six runs of the contest. Senior 2B Haley Nash (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) slugged a two-run home run in the fourth, her team-leading fifth of the season, to make it 6-4. In the fifth, the Judges scored on a double steal, an RBI double by Felder and a two-run double by Cohen, who finished 3-5 with two RBI and a run scored.
Trailing 10-4, the Tartans made things interesting in the fifth, with a pair of home runs – a two-run shot by catcher Izzy Bermudez – her second of the game – and a three-run blast from 2B Emily Song. Brandeis added a pair of key insurance runs in the sixth on an RBI double by junior RF Lily Medici (New City, N.Y./Clarkstown North) and another RBI single by Fujita. CMU scored one in the bottom of the frame on a Brandeis error, but the Judges got a clean seventh to secure the win.
Senior Sydney Goldman (Sherman Oaks, Calif./Notre Dame) earned her second win of the season with four innings of work, allowing six hits and six runs (five earned), striking out two with two walks. Sophomore Rebecca Guerci (Roslyn, N.Y. / Herricks) earned her first career save with three innings of three-hit ball. She allowed four runs (three earned) with two strikeouts and one walk. CMU's Olivia van Zandt, one of four Tartan pitchers on the day, took the loss after allowing six hits and three earned runs in 2.1 innings. She struck out two and walked three, falling to 1-4 on the campaign.
Brandeis returns to action on Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. when they take on Wellesley in a non-conference doubleheader.