PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Brandeis University softball team used a couple of big innings today to sweep a University Athletic Association doubleheader from host Carnegie Mellon University. The Judges had a five-run third inning in the opener to take a 7-2 win, then posted a nine-run fifth in the nightcap for a 10-1 victory. With the wins, the Judges improve to 16-10 overall on the season, 4-6 in the UAA. The Tartans fall to 13-11, 4-5 UAA.
In game one, the Judges outhit CMU, 11-3, to take the win. Their big inning was the third, which featured an RBI single from sophomore pitcher Alex Cohen (West Palm Beach, Fla./Benjamin School) that helped her own cause, followed by a two-run home run by sophomore 3B Haley Nash (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem Central), her fourth of the season and ninth of her career. Junior 1B Jamie Pippin (Redmond, Wash./Lake Washington) added an RBI hit, and senior LF Amidori Anderson (Sparks, Nev./Spanish Springs) scored the team's fifth run on a wild pitch. Grad student SS Jolie Fujita (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) picked up an RBI in the fourth on a sacrifice fly to give Brandeis a 6-0 lead.
Carnegie Mellon got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on a home run by DP Izzy Bermudez that was the Tartans' first hit of the game. 3B Emily Finger doubled later in the inning but was stranded at second base. Both teams scored runs in the fifth inning – Brandeis on an RBI double by senior 2B Marley Felder (Miami, Fla./American Heritage School) and CMU on a sacrifice fly by RF Kiera Boucher that closed out the scoring.
Cohen earned the win for the Judges with her fifth complete game of the season, facing just six batters over the minimum. She struck out five and walked three, allowing two earned runs on just three hits. Cohen improved to 8-2 on the season, second-most in the UAA, while taking the conference lead with 65 strikeouts. Amanda Smith suffered the loss, falling to 3-2 on the season after allowing three earned runs on four hits and two walks in 2.1 innings of work.
In game two, Brandeis held Carnegie Mellon to just three hits for the second game in a row. This time, the Tartans struck first in the bottom of the second inning, when SS Abbey Reese walked and scored all the way from first on LF Erika Heffernen's double with two outs.
Brandeis tied things up in the fourth inning when Anderson homered to left-center field to lead off the frame. It was Anderson's fourth of the campaign and the fifth of her career. The Judges blew things open in the fifth with nine runs on seven hits, sending 12 batters to the plate. The big hits in the frame were a two-run single by grad student CF Melissa Rothenberg (Lawrenceville, N.J./Lawrence), an RBI single by Anderson and the capper, a three-run home run by Fujita. It was her first of the season and eighth of her career and it made the score 10-1.
With the eight-run lead established, Judge sophomore Rebecca Guerci (Roslyn, N.Y./Herricks) worked around a leadoff single to retire the side and earn the complete-game win. She improved to 3-2 on the campaign with five innings of three-hit ball. She allowed one earned run, struck out six and walked two. Guerci threw 59 of her 84 pitches for strikes. CMU's Scott McGee took the loss, allowing five hits, five runs and five walks in 4.2 innings of work. She struck out six and allowed two Brandeis home runs.
The Judges and Tartans are scheduled to play two more games tomorrow, starting at 12 noon.