WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University softball team won
the ECAC Division III New England tournament championship in
dramatic fashion today, as the Judges defeated Keene State College,
6-5, in the championship game by scoring three runs in the bottom
of the seventh inning.
Senior pitcher/DP Kaitlin Streilein (Point Pleasant, N.J.) earned
the win in relief, claiming Tournament MVP honors. Streilein earned
all four Brandeis wins in the circle and batted a team-high .538
(7-13) for the tournament with four runs scored, three RBI a triple
and a home run.
Trailing 5-3 headed into the last of the seventh, Streilein led off
with a hard single right field. After Keene State senior pitcher
Ashlee Nicholson (Swanzey, N.H.) got a strikeout, Brandeis senior
Natalie Volpe (Southington, Conn.) coaxed a walk. Rookie 3B
Danielle Lavallee (Sutton, Mass.) then lofted a ball to left field
that was dropped for an error, allowing Streilein to score.
Sophomore Allie Mussen (Franklin Square, N.Y.) followed with a
bloop to center field that fell in between three KSC fielders to
load the bases. That brought up sophomore SS Chelsea Korp
(Worcester, Mass.), who lined a hard shot off the third baseman's
glove that rolled down the left field line to plate the game-tying
and game-winning runs.
With the game tied at 3-3 after three innings, Keene State had
taken their two-run lead thanks to junior 3B Jenna Patnode (Surrey,
N.H.), who doubled in the fourth inning, stole third and scored on
a sacrifice fly by senior Jess Starkey (Keene., N.H.), and senior
SS Coleen Ferguson (Sussex, N.J.), who singled and scored four
batters later on a wild pitch.
Ferguson had opened the scoring in the top of the first with an RBI
single, but Brandeis answered in the bottom of the frame with
rookie 2B Melisa Cagar's (Ridgewood, N.J.) fourth home run of the
season of the top of the fence in centerfield, followed Volpe's
squeeze bunt. Owl junior Katie Allenson (Clifton Park, N.Y.) put
the visitors back on top in the third with a two-run home run, her
third round-tripper of the tournament and ninth of the season, but
Volpe responded with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the
inning.
Streilein pitched two innings of one-hit ball in relief, to earn
the win finishing the season with a 22-3 record. Volpe gave up
eight hits and five runs (all earned) in five innings. She struck
out four and walked five. Nicholson suffered the loss, falling to
17-8 on the season. She fanned three, but walked one and allowed
four hits. Rookie Jessie Williams (Jaffrey, N.H.) performed well in
relief of starter Jess Starkey, allowing just two hits and one run
in four innings of work.
With the win, Brandeis finishes the season at 38-9-1, the
winningest season in Brandeis athletics history. They claim their
first-ever ECAC softball crown, giving the Judges three ECAC titles
in 2007-08. They won the volleyball and women's soccer tournaments
in the fall.
Softball walks off with Brandeis's third ECAC Tournament crown of 2007-08
Posted: May 11, 2008