REDLANDS, Calif. – The Brandeis University softball team got a pitching gem in the second game of a doubleheader today as the 22nd-ranked Judges salvaged a split at the University of Redlands. After dropping the opener to the Bulldogs, 5-2, they picked up a 2-1 win in Game Two. With the split, Brandeis returns home from their February break trip to California with a 6-2 record. The Bulldogs are now 6-3 on the campaign.
In the opener. Brandeis got off to a fast start, scoring twice in the top of the first inning when sophomore 3B Haley Nash (Delmar, N.Y. / Bethlehem Central) delivered a two-run home run to left field, plating grad student SS Jolie Fujita (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School). The homer was Nash's first of the season and the sixth of her career.
Redlands got a run back in the bottom of the first without a hit, benefitting from a wild pitch on a third strike, a walk, a double steal and a passed ball.
Brandeis had a chance to extend its lead in the third, loading the bases with two out, but UR pitcher Danielle Stallings got out of the jam with a strikeout.
The hosts took the lead in the fourth, loading the bases on a single, a double and a hit batter. Leftfielder Alexis Campos delivered the game-winning hit, a two-run double down the left field line. The Bulldogs added two more runs on a sacrifice fly and an error, taking a 5-2 lead. That was all Stallings needed, working around bases runners in each of the final three innings to escape with the win. She fanned seven and walked two, scattering eight hits to improve to 3-1.
For Brandeis offensively, grad student CF Melissa Rothenberg (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence) went 3-for-4 with a double. Fujita added two hits, and Nash drove in both Brandeis runs with her homer. Redlands did not have a multiple hitter, with DP Sierra Daley adding a double.
Brandeis sophomore Alex Cohen (West Palm Beach, Fla. / The Benjamin School) suffered the loss, giving up four hits and five runs (three earned) in three innings. She struck out three and walked one batter and hit another to fall to 2-1 on the season. First-year Madeline Gorey (Lake George, N.Y. / Lake George) tossed three innings of no-hit relief, allowing just one base runner on an error.
Game two was a pitcher's duel between Brandeis senior Sydney Goldman (Sherman Oaks, Calif./Notre Dame) and Redland's Kalyn Kershner. The two allowed one hit each in the first four innings before the Judges broke through in the top of the fifth. Fujita led off with a walk, and moved to second one batter later on a single by senior LF Amidori Anderson (Sparks, Nev. / Spanish Springs). Kershner got the second out on a fielder's choice at third base. Senior catcher Kirsten Chandonnet (Sanbornton, N.H. / Tilton School) broke through when she singled home Balakrishna, and junior RF Lily Medici (New City, N.Y. / Clarkstown North) plated classmate 1B Jamie Pippin (Redmond, Wash. / Lake Washington) with a hit to center giving Brandeis a 2-0 lead.
Goldman retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth, but ran into some trouble in the seventh. UR 1B Tyesen Gordon led off with a home run to centerfield, and SS Collette Allen followed with a single. Goldman got a pop-up to the circle for the first out. After a steal and a walk, Goldman finished things off with her 10th strikeout of the game and a pop to short to earn the split.
Goldman tossed her 27th career complete game to earn her first win of the season. She allowed three hits and one earned run. Her 10 strikeouts marked the ninth time in her career she reached double figures. She walked two, throwing 118 pitches, 71 for strikes. The Judges didn't have any multiple hitters or extra-base hits, but it was enough to get the win. UR's Kershner fell to 0-2 on the season despite allowing just four hits and two earned runs in seven innings. She fanned three and walked one.
Brandeis returns to action back in New England on March 20th with a doubleheader at Simmons College at 12 noon.