WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University softball team connected for three home runs while holding visiting Wellesley College to just eight hits combined as the Judges swept the Blue in a non-conference doubleheader today, 7-1 and 4-0. With the wins, the Judges improve to 19-11 on the season, while the Blue fall to 1-16.
Brandeis got a pair of terrific pitching starts from sophomore Alex Cohen (West Palm Beach, Fla./Benjamin School) and junior Chandra Penton (Newton, Mass./Newton South). In the opener, Cohen tossed her fourth complete game of the season, allowing four hits and one unearned run. She struck out three and walked just one, throwing 63 of her 78 pitches for strikes. She improved to 9-3 on the season. Penton tossed six innings in the second game, allowing three hits and striking out three and walking one. She threw 77 pitches, 59 for strikes, and moved to 4-0 on the campaign. Senior Sydney Goldman (Sherman Oaks, Calif./Notre Dame) threw the final inning, allowing one hit, one walk and one strikeout.
Grad student shortstop Jolie Fujita (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) was one of several standout hitters on the day, finishing a single short of the cycle across the two games. She went 2-3 with a triple and a home run, two runs scored and one RBI in the opener, and 1-4 with a double in the second game. Fujita's home run was a solo blast in the fifth inning of game one. It was her third homer of the season and the 10th of her career. With her seventh career triple, she moves into a tie for second place on the career list, while her 73rd career RBI moves her into a tie for 19th all-time at Brandeis.
Senior left fielder Amidori Anderson (Sparks, Nev./Spanish Springs) also just missed a two-game cycle, going 4-6 with a double and a home run, two runs scored and a team-high five RBI. Anderson hit a three-run homer, also in the fifth inning of game one, and had a double in game 2. She also had a two-run single in the third inning of game 2. Anderson's homer was her fifth of the season and the sixth of her career.
Other big hits came from sophomore 3B Haley Cohen (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem Central), who hit her team-leading sixth home run of the season and the 11th of her career, in the fifth inning of game 2; first-year 1B Fiona Doiron (Charlton, Mass./Marianapolis Prep), whose RBI single in the second inning of game 1 proved to be the game-winner; and sophomore 1B Jamie Pippin (Redmond, Wash. / Lake Washington), who drove in the winning run with an RBI single in game 2.
For Wellesley, RF Charis Chung was the only player with multiple hits across the two games, singling in each. She scored the Blue's lone run of the game, on an error on a ball hit by CF Elli DeCleene. Lauren Young took the loss in game 1, allowing nine hits and seven earned runs in 4.1 innings, falling to 0-7. In game 2, it was Emma Slibeck, who allowed five hits and three earned runs in 2.2 innings to suffer a loss in her first decision.
Brandeis is back in action on Friday at 3 p.m. when they host Case Western Reserve in the opening game of a four-game UAA series.
