Wellesley Softball Sweeps Another, Blue Top Smith

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- The Wellesley College softball team grabbed another doubleheader sweep on Saturday, topping Smith College in NEWMAC action. The Blue won the opener, 9-0, in six innings and took the nightcap, 9-4.

Smith is now 4-14, and 0-8 in the NEWMAC, while Wellesley is 14-6, and 6-2 in NEWMAC play.

In game one, the Blue broke open a scoreless game with four runs in the fifth inning. Maria LaBouyer led off the inning with a solo home run to left field.  

After two Wellesley batters struck out with Mariah Philips on second, Carly Bresee doubled in Philips, and took third on passed ball. RBI hits by Abby Casey and Lauren Goldfarb completed the scoring for the inning, as Wellesley sent 10 batters to the plate.

Smith responded with a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning.  Tori Brown smacked a double to left field and took third on a wild pitch.  After Caroline Kushner and Gina Martucci walked to load the bases, Edie Richardson popped up to third to end the inning.  

Wellesley added five more in the sixth inning to end the game by mercy rule; Smith committed two errors and gave up six hits in the frame.

In addition to Brown's double, Martucci and Kushner also had hits for the Pioneers.  Martucci went 5.1 innings in the circle, striking out three batters and allowing just four earned runs.  Kristina Gaffny pitched the final two-thirds.

Sarah Schwartzmeyer struckout seven in a complete game effort for Wellesley.  Goldfarb was 3-for-4 with two RBI, while Bresee, Jayne Ellis, and Laboyer each knocked in a pair of runs.

Smith's bats came alive in the second game, as the Pioneers rapped out seven hits, including two each for Brown and Joanna Giordano.

Wellesley got on the board first when Goldfarb scored on an error, and added four in the second.  Samantha Spiga and Amber Braun hit back-to-back doubles, and Migliore singled in Spiga. 

Another Smith error brought in Braun, and Goldfarb drove in two with a single.  After Wellesley tacked on two more runs in the fourth to make it 7-0, Smith mounted a comeback in the bottom of the sixth.

Giordano bunted for a single with one out, and Brown cracked a double to right-center for Smith's first run of the day.  Kushner stroked a single to left field that brought Brown across.  After a wild pitch moved Kushner to second base, Martucci doubled her home, followed up Edie Richardson's RBI single that made it a 7-4 game.

Wellesley restored a five run advantage with RBI hits from Spiga and Lindsay Johnson in the seventh.

Brown went the distance for Smith, allowing just four earned runs in seven innings with one strikeout.  Braun started and went 5.1 innings for Wellesley.  Johnson picked up the save with 1.2 innings of one hit-relief.

Goldfarb, Casey, Spiga, Migliore, and Emilyrose Havrilla each had two hits for Wellesley.

Smith will return to action on Tuesday, April 9, hosting Westfield State in a doubleheader slated to start at 3:30 pm.  Wellesley will play on Sunday, April 7, with single games against Tufts at 11 a.m. and Eastern Connecticut State at 3 p.m.