BOSTON, MA (taken from a UMass-Boston press release) – Sophomore designated player Danielle Mayer (Larkspur, Calif.) went 2-3 with two runs batted in to lead the Brandeis University softball team over host University of Massachusetts Boston, 5-3, today at the Clark Athletic Center Softball Field.

Senior SS Mari Levine (Hopkinton, Mass.) crushed a one-out double to left field and, following an out, was plated by a Mayer single to left center to pull the Judges even at 1-1 in the top of the fourth inning. Brandeis used its momentum to score four more times in the top of the fifth when Victoria Roomet singled to left to lead off the inning, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and came around to score on an error to give the Judges a 2-1 edge. Sophomore hurler Kaitlin Streilein (Point Pleasant, N.J.) followed with a double to center field to score junior catcher Christina McWilliams (Billerica, Mass.), who had reached on the error, to make it 3-1. Following the second out of the inning, Levine doubled to left center to bring home Streilein and later scored when Mayer singled to shortstop to give the Judges a 5-1 advantage.

UMass Boston cut the deficit to 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth when sophomore third baseman Alison Lowe (Brockton, MA) drew a two-out walk, went to second on a single by senior left fielder Elizabeth A. Erlandson (East Boston, MA) and scored when senior right fielder Molly Norton (Milton, MA) blooped a single to right field. The Beacons added another run in the seventh when sophomore shortstop Katherine Wall (Arlington, MA) led off with a triple to center field and came around to score on a sacrifice bunt by senior catcher Catie O’Reilly (Dorchester, MA), but it would be all the runs that UMB would get.

UMass Boston got on the board first when Wall legged out an inside-the-park home run to right center in the first inning to make it 1-0.

Streilein went the distance for Brandeis, tossing seven innings, while allowing three earned runs on nine hits and three walks, while striking out 10.

Freshman right hander Nikki Johnson (Leicester, MA) suffered the loss for the Beacons, allowing five runs (two earned) on seven hits and two walks, while striking out two in five innings of work. Freshman Jenn Santoro (Belmont, MA) pitched two innings of one-hit relief to close it out for UMass Boston.

Wall led the Beacons, going 2-2 with a homer, a triple, a pair of walks, two runs scored and an RBI, while Knight and Norton both finished with two hits in three trips.

Levine smacked a pair of doubles on the day for the Judges, while scoring twice, knocking in a run and working a walk.