WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University softball team had some quiet bats today as visiting Wellesley College held the Judges to two runs over the course of a double header. The Blue won game 1, 7-1, and game 2, 3-1. Brandeis falls to 10-9 with the losses, while Wellesley improves to 6-6.

HOW IT HAPPENED – GAME 1

• In the opener, Wellesley scored runs in five of their seven at-bats.
• The Blue outhit the Judges, 14-7, as eight of their nine starters had hits.
• Wellesley junior Anna Pisac hit a home run to center field in the third inning that proved to be the game-winning hit. It was her fifth of the season.
• She finished 3-4 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored in addition to the homer.
• Five different Blue hitters had doubles: Pisac; senior catcher Carly Bresee; sophomore pitcher Julia Warner; sophomore outfielder Zein Aburish; and sophomore 1B Amanda Manning.
• Warner was outstanding in the circle, scattering seven hits over seven innings and allowing just one earned run. She struck out six and didn't walk a batter, stranding 10 Brandeis runners.
• Brandeis's lone run came in the bottom of the seventh inning, when rookie SS Keri Lehtonen (Oneco, Conn./Plainfield) hit her second home run of the season. Lehtonen finished 2-4.
• Junior Amanda Shore (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) also had two hits, including a double.
• Junior Melissa Soleimani (Somerset, Mass./Somerset Berkeley Regional) threw her fifth complete game of the season but fell to 5-6. She allowed 14 hits and seven earned runs with three strikeouts and two walks.

HOW IT HAPPENED – GAME TWO

• Game two was a traditional pitcher's duel, with sophomores Sadie-Rose Apfel (Stamford, Conn. / Westhill) of Brandeis and  Madeline Bianchi of Wellesley each tossing seven innings of five-hit ball.
• Brandeis struck first in the fourth inning, when senior 2B Madison Gagnon (Westlake Village, Calif./Westlake) was hit by a pitch to open the frame.
• Gagnon moved to second on a wild pitch and third on a long fly ball to right.
• After Bianchi induced a grounder to first that kept the runner at third, rookie Marissa DeLaurentis (Centerach, N.Y./St. John The Baptist Diocesian) drove on to right-center field that put the Judges ahead, 1-0.
• Wellesley answered with three run in the top of the fifth, on just one hit.
• Carly Bresee hit one off Apfel's leg that caromed away for a single. She moved to second on a passed ball.
• Senior SS Jacklyn Tsang followed with a sacrifice bunt, but reached safely when the Judges elected to throw to third. Tsang moved up to second on the play as well.
• The next batter hit a hard chopper to short with the infield in, and the Judges threw home. They looked to have Bresee in a pickle, but the throw to third was dropped and scooted away, allowing the tying run to score and both runners to get into scoring position.
• Apfel got two more infield groundouts, but they were hard enough to allow the go-ahead and insurance runs to score.
• The Judges put runners on base in the sixth and seventh innings, but couldn't advance them past second base as the Blue took the sweep.
• Lehtonen added two more hits, the only Judge with more than one. Bresee and left fielder Ashtyn Coleman each had two hits for the visitors.
• Bianchi improved to 5-3 on the season after allowing just the one earned run on five hits. She fanned one and waked one in seven innings.
• Apfel was the hard-luck loser, as all three of her runs were unearned. She gave up five hits as well, striking out two and walking two. She falls to 3-2 on the season.

UP NEXT

• The Judges are at Worcester State on Friday and Framingham State next Tuesday for doubleheaders before returning home on April 11 and 12 for single 4 p.m. games against Babson (formerly an April 11 DH).

For more information on Brandeis Athletics, please visit brandeisjudges.com or follow us on Twitter or Instagram @brandeisjudges, or follow us on Facebook.

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