Wellesley Softball Falls to Wis.-Whitewater, Buffalo St. at The Spring Games

CLERMONT, Fla. – Junior Kendall Smith (Turlock, Calif.) hit her first home run of the season and sophomore Gen Brittingham (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) finished the day with three RBIs, but Wellesley College softball dropped a pair of contest on Sunday morning at the Spring Games at Legends Way Ballfields.

The Blue dropped a 7-1 decision to No. 9 Wisconsin-Whitewater and an 11-3 final in six innings to Buffalo State. Wellesley is now 3-3 overall in 2019. 

Game 1 | Wis.-Whitewater 7, Wellesley 1 | Final 

Whitewater juniors Bella Matthias (Greenfield, Wis.) and Dani Biesiada (Lisle, Ill.) combined to one-hit the Blue in a 7-1 victory for the nationally ranked Warhawks on Sunday morning.

Matthias picked-up the win (2-1), giving up one hit and striking out 11 batters over five innings of work. Biesiada pitched two innings of no-hit relief, striking out two to lock down the victory for Whitewater. Sophomore Vera Pflugradt (Lake Zurich, Ill.) finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored out of the leadoff spot.

The Warhawks got a pair of runs in the top of the first, taking advantage of a Wellesley error to take the lead in the contest. Wellesley starter Sydney Hopper (Newcastle, Wash.) battled through the next five innings and finished a solid outing with 6.0 innings pitched, four walks, and two strikeouts to drop to 2-1 on the year. First year Caitlin Gordon (North Vancouver, BC, Canada) pitched one inning of scoreless relief. 

Whitewater put the game out of reach in the top half of the fourth inning, stretching a 2-0 lead to 6-0 when they scored four runs on four hits. Pflugradt had the big hit in the inning, driving in a pair of runs with a one-out triple to the centerfield fence. 

Matthias advanced to the sixth with a no-hit and shutout bid intact but Smith erased both possibilities with one swing of the bat, leading off the inning with her first home run of the season and the fourth of her Wellesley career. Whitewater got the run back the next inning, scoring on an error in the seventh to take the 7-1 win. 

Game 2 | Buffalo St. 11, Wellesley 3 | Final (6 innings)

Buffalo State used a ten-run second inning to cruise to an 11-3 victory over the Blue in six innings.

Faced with a 10-run deficit in the fifth inning, Wellesley extend the game to the sixth with a three-run frame, but Buffalo St. jumped ahead by eight runs on an RBI double from senior Cassie O'Hern (Augusta, N.J.) in the top half of the sixth. The Bengals then held the Blue scoreless in the bottom half of the inning to end the game. 

O'Hern and classmate Julia Blujus (Amherst, N.Y.) each finished with three hits to lead the Bengals. O'Hern had a game-high five RBIs and three doubles, driving in four runs during the Bengals' 10-run second inning. O'Hern drove in the first Buffalo St. run and later capped the inning with a three-RBI ground rule double to left. Starter Oriana Castello (Pearl River, N.Y.) pitched 4.2 innings, giving up two earned, and four hits to improve to 2-2 for Buffalo St.

After the Blue fell behind early, Gordon entered in relief and held Buffalo St. to just two hits over the next three innings. With the Blue facing the eight-run rule in the bottom of the fifth, first year Holly Chin (Newton, Mass.) and Smith each walked and first year Marisa Hensch (Carlsbad, Calif.) singled to load the bases for Brittingham. Brittingham then emptied the bases with one one swing, hitting her third double of the season to make the score 10-3. Brittingham now has nine hits and eight RBIs in her first six games of the season.

Wellesley has Monday off before the Blue close out the Spring Games on Tuesday afternoon. The Blue will take on Thomas (Maine) at 2:00 PM and Oberlin at 4:15 PM.