Wellesley Softball Launches Seven Home Runs in Doubleheader Sweep of Smith

WELLESLEY, Mass. – Wellesley College softball launched seven home runs as a team en route to a doubleheader sweep over visiting Smith College in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday at the Wellesley Fields Complex. The Blue took game one by a 7-3 final and earned a 10-2 win in six innings in game two. 

Wellesley, now winners of three-straight and four of their last five games, improves 9-4 overall and 4-2 in the NEWMAC. Smith is now 6-10 on the season and 2-2 on the road.

Game One: Wellesley 7, Smith 3

Junior Amanda Manning (Chico, Calif.) and seniors Ashtyn Coleman (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Anna Pisac (Snohomish, Wash.) each recorded a home run and a double in game one to lead the Blue to a 7-3 victory. 

Manning was 3-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs in the opener. First year Autumn Brown (Marshfield, Mass.) matched Manning with three hits to lead the Blue, delivering a double in the bottom of the second and an RBI single in the fifth. Pisac also had two RBIs, while Coleman added another. Junior Julia Warner (Kenmore, Wash.) went the distance in the circle to earn the win (3-1), striking out six, while giving up three runs, two earned, and six hits. 

Sophomores Tyler Feeney (Merrimac, Mass.) and Emma Kraus (Wakefield, Mass.) combined for four of the six Pioneer hits, with Fenney also scoring two runs and driving in a pair when she hit her first home run of the season in the top of the fifth inning. Senior Natalie Burchat (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and sophomore Jessica Flohr (Foster, Calif.) each pitched three innings. Burchat was charged with the loss (3-5) after giving up six runs, four earned, on seven hits. Flohr surrendered four hits and one run, while walking a pair, in relief.

Manning opened game one with a leadoff home run to straightaway center, setting the tone for the day. Ashtyn Coleman followed one batter later with a home run to left. The Blue added two more in the second and third innings. First year Kalei Oliver (Vista, Calif.) reached on an error in the second, allowing Brown to score, before Manning drove in Oliver with an RBI double to left. Pisac delivered the big blow in the bottom of the third, hitting her third home run of the season, a two-run blast, to make the score 6-0.

Smith got two runs back in the top of the fifth on Feeney's homer, but the Blue immediately got one back in the home half of the inning thanks to Brown's RBI single. With Wellesley leading 7-2 in the seventh inning, Feeney reached on a two-out double. She then came around to score on a throwing error to close the gap to 7-3. With Elodie Townsend (Mill Valley, Calif.) on first following the play, Warner got senior Brittney Blokker (Seattle, Wash.) to pop up to second to end the game.

Game Two: Wellesley 10, Smith 2 (6 inn.)

After hitting three home runs in the opener the Blue added four more in game two, jumping out to a 5-0 lead before ending the game in six innings with a 10-2 victory.

Manning and Ashtyn Coleman each homered again in the nightcap, while Brown and first year classmate Kendall Smith (Turlock, Calif.) each hit their first collegiate home runs. Smith had a game-high three RBIs, all thanks to her three-run blast in the fourth inning. Manning added three more hits in game two, again finishing 3-for-4, with two runs scored and two RBIs, to run her team-leading hit total to 23 on the season. Senior Kendra Coleman (Scottsdale, Ariz.) joined sister Ashtyn Coleman, Pisac, and Brown with two hits in the contest.

Blokker, Krauss and sophomore Alyssa Pioggia (East Longmeadow, Mass.) each tallied two hits for the Pioneers. Kraus and Pioggia both laced doubles, while senior Ally Snyder (Succasunna, N.J.) drove in both Smith runs with an RBI double in the top of the third inning. Junior Rowan Turner (Kansas City, Kan.) started the game for Smith and went three innings, giving up six runs, all earned, and walking three to drop to 3-5 on the year. Burchatt returned in game two, pitching 2.2 innings of relief, while giving up four runs. 

For the second game in-a-row, Ashtyn Coleman hit a home run in the bottom of the first inning, this time with Manning on first following a leadoff single. The Blue then went deep twice in the bottom of the second inning, as Manning hit her second of the day, a two-run shot, after Brown cleared the scoreboard in left field with the first of her career earlier in the inning.

With Wellesley leading 5-0 after two, Snyder got Smith back to within three with her two-run double in the top of the third. However, the Blue immediately got one run back in the bottom half of the third thanks to an RBI groundout from junior Zein Aburish (Alexandria, Va.).

With Wellesley now on top 6-2, Smith put the game out of reach in the bottom of the fourth inning, hitting a three-run blast that bounced off of the top of the centerfield fence and out to make the Wellesley lead 9-2. That was more than enough support for starter Madeline Bianchi (Lakeville, Minn.), who went six inning and struck out a pair to move to 4-3 on the season. A bases loaded walk to sophomore Veronica Locher (Walnut Creek, Calif.) ended the game in the bottom of the sixth. 

Wellesley closes out a busy weekend with a doubleheader tomorrow, Sunday April 9, at 2:30 PM versus Clark. The Blue will host the games that were originally scheduled to be played in Worcester. Smith will return home tomorrow to host Springfield at 1:00 PM in a doubleheader rescheduled from April 7.