Some people would refer to it as a "close call."
Indeed it was. The Dartmouth softball team remained strong in Wednesday's match-up against Amherst College, however, and won, 6-5 to earn its third win, 11 games into the regular season.
Dartmouth led from the first inning when it took an early 2-1 advantage.
Susan Warhover '95 hit a triple in the bottom of the fourth, and sophomore Amy Coelho's bunt brought Warhover home to extend the margin to 3-1.
Dartmouth seemed to have put the game away for good when Lauren McQuade '97 and Julia Doster '97 scored in the bottom of the fifth off of senior Rachel Rochat's line drive to right field.
Amherst continued to fight back, however, and scored a run in the sixth inning to make it 5-2.
Then Amherst exploded for three more runs in the seventh inning to tie up the game.
"It should not have been that close," Coach Hank Tenney said. "We had nine errors, which is something that doesn't happen very often. We weren't making the plays and didn't do the things we needed to do to win in seven innings."
"Sometimes we have the problem of getting ahead of ourselves," Warhover said. "We weren't playing our best softball and needed to play stronger defense. Overall, I felt we weren't on top of the game which is why Amherst came back and tied things up."
Ericka Lee '95 replaced starting pitcher Christina Maybaum '98 on the mound in the seventh inning.
Dartmouth ended the inning with a double play when Jen Pitts '95 hit Rochat at first base, who passed to McQuade for the second out at third base.
Tied at 5-5 in the seventh inning, the game went into extra innings and each team played tight defense. Finally, in the eleventh inning, Dartmouth had the bases loaded and Worboys hit a grounder, bringing Karen Hersey '96 home and securing the Dartmouth victory.
"I'm happy that we won," Warhover said. "Every game we play, we try and play our hearts out. We've been playing Amherst for three years now, and it's always nice to come out and beat them."
"Christina [Maybaum] pitched a great game, and Ericka [Lee] did a good job relieving her in the seventh inning. The opportunity was there for us to win early on, especially since Amherst is not a strong hitting team. We have to be thankful though," Warhover said.
Dartmouth now prepares for today's home game against Princeton. The Tigers are currently ranked 24th in the nation.
"We have to play a spotless defensive game," Tenney said. "We have got to be ready, and if we play like we did against Brown, we have a chance. It's exciting for us and we have nothing to lose. We need to be aggressive and stay strong. Anything can happen."
Today's doubleheader begins this afternoon at 2:00 at Sachemfield.
