WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University softball team ended its 2018 season today with three games against Washington University, as the Judges and Bears completed a game from yesterday that was suspended because of rain, then contested the day's originally scheduled twinbill. Washington University got the best of the Judges each time, winning the suspended game, 6-1, the second game, 3-0, and the final contest, 5-2.
Before the games, Brandeis honored its two seniors, Amanda Shore (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty), who singled to lead off the fourth inning of the first game to become the 31st player in school history with 100 career hits, and Sadie-Rose Apfel (Stamford, Conn./Westhill), who pitched two of the three contests.
The Judges' offense struggled against Washington pitching. Maggie Clapp tossed a complete game with seven innings of seven-hit ball in the suspended game, pitching on both days of the 6-1 win. Brandeis's only run came on a home run by junior Marissa DeLaurentis (Centreach, N.Y./St. John the Baptist Diocesan) in the second inning, which took place yesterday. Apfel surrendered nine hits and six runs (four earned) in throwing her second complete game of the season. Clapp helped her own cause, driving in a run in the first, then scoring runs in the third and seventh innings. The game-winning hit was a two-run single in the third inning by the Bears' Mackenzie Gauden. Gauden and Hannah Bloom had two hits each for the visitors, while DeLaurentis and sophomore Taylor Simala (Wellsburg, W. Va./Brooke) had a pair for the Judges.
The pitchers were in control of the day's second game as well, as the teams combined for just seven hits and no earned runs. Unfortunately for the Judges, they committed six errors, three of which proved costly leading to unearned runs. A pair of miscues in the third inning led to a run scoring on an infield grounder by pitcher Anna McKee to give WashU the 1-0 lead. Brandeis had some chances to get to McKee that they could not convert, and the Bears took advantage of two errors on bunts in the top of the seventh to add two more unearned runs on a single by Clapp and a sacrifice fly by McKee. McKee (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 6 K, 1 BB) outdueled Brandeis sophomore Scottie Todd (Tampa, Fla./Strawberry Crest), who tossed seven innings of four-hit ball with four Ks and two walks. Todd also had one of the three Judges' hits.
In the final game of the series, the Judges finally had a lead in the contest, but they couldn't hang on. After WashU's Taylor Arends plated Amy Walsh after a leadoff triple, Apfel settled down. She helped her own cause with an RBI double in the second, though the Judges couldn't get the go-ahead run home in that frame. In the third, junior catcher Keri Lehtonen (Oneco, Conn./Plainfield) led off with a double against Bear starter Abby Graegin. She stole third after McKee came on in relief and scored on a DeLaurentis groundout. The Judges threatened in the fourth and fifth with a couple of runners on, but WashU turned a double play in the fourth and got a couple of ground outs in the sixth to avoid trouble. The Bears tied the game on back-to-back errors in the fifth inning and went ahead on a Clapp groundout in the same frame. She gave the visitors some breathing room with a double through the left side in the seventh inning, allowing McKee to close the door with a 1-2-3 inning.
Brandeis closes its 2018 season with an 11-21 record, 2-14 in the UAA. Washington University improves to 13-13 on the year, 5-7 in the conference, and will meet NYU for four games at home next weekend.