The softball team earned another hard-fought split last night in a doubleheader against the University of Vermont at Sachem Field. The Big Green won the opener, 3-2, but dropped the nightcap to the Catamounts, 3-0.
In the first game, Bess Tortolani '98 blasted a one-out triple to the right-field fence to score pinch-runner Annie Eckstein '98 from first base to break a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Big Green struck first when Carrie Sekela '01 brought Jenny Harsey '01 home with a sacrifice to left-field in the opening stanza. Shortstop Harsey has been on fire recently and she started her team off on the right foot with a leadoff triple to get into scoring position. Harsey has now hit four triples and two doubles in the last eight games.
Vermont responded in the fourth inning when Kristen Nestor and Anna Curry scored, but that would be all the runs the Catamounts would be able to muster for the rest of the game.
Erica Morgenstein '01 singled to put herself on base in the fifth, leaving Elizabeth Lucchesi '00 the opportunity to bring her home and knot the score at 2-2.
Stacy Sanders '00 picked up the victory for Dartmouth, allowing only five hits. She now has five wins and is on pace to more than double her freshman year total of three.
Coach Steffany Bender was pleased with the way her team responded after dropping three close games to Yale and Brown over the weekend.
"It was nice to come back strong after an emotionally draining weekend," Bender said. "This team is showing it can stay focused on a long-term goal."
The Big Green lost the second game, 3-0. Co-Captain Christina Maybaum '98 was tagged with the loss, but she allowed only six hits in four innings in a fairly strong outing. Brianne Rideout '01 worked the final two innings and collected two strikeouts.
The Catamounts were led by the pitching of Cheri Toms. The freshman hurler silenced the Big Green bats, scattering just three hits over seven innings. Sarah Toney scored both of Vermont's runs thanks to two separate Jill Nocera RBI singles. Sarah Fiske accounted for the Catamounts' final run in the contest.
For Dartmouth, Lucchessi, Morgenstein and Kate Winter '00 each picked up singles as the Big Green was held to just three hits.
"We got out in front on a lot of her pitches, and it is hard to hit the ball hard when you're doing that," Bender said.
Bender noted that her team did not approach the battle with the Catamounts lightly.
"They're very scrappy. We had played well against them in the fall, and we knew we could beat them, but obviously it takes good things offensively and defensively for that to happen."
Dartmouth travels south to battle UMass-Lowell on Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. The Big Green will take to the road again this weekend to face Ivy League rival Princeton University on Sunday at 1 p.m.
