Dartmouth's softball team's early season struggles continued on Wednesday when the squad lost a doubleheader at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The Minutewomen, one of the top teams in the Northeast, swept the Big Green behind the pitching of ace Brandice Balschmiter, who held Dartmouth to just one hit in the first game.
The Big Green (4-13, 0-0 Ivy) has now dropped the last three contests. All of the team's games this season have been on the road.
UMass, the defending Atlantic 10 conference champion, has won 10 of its last 12 contests.
In the first game, the Minutewomen jumped to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning against Dartmouth starter Stephanie Trudeau '09. UMass increased its lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the third on a home run by Sarah Reeves.
Co-captain Angela Megaw '08 came in to relieve Trudeau in the bottom of the fourth and played for three innings, allowing three earned runs.
The Big Green offense struggled as the team contended with Balschmiter and only managed one hit for the game. A single by Leigha Clarkson '10 in the top of the fifth broke the no-hitter. Balschmiter fanned a season-high 13 batters and recorded her sixth shutout on the season.
The Big Green was able to generate some offense in the second game, but could not maintain its lead as the powerful UMass lineup tallied seven runs for the second straight game.
Dartmouth scored first in the top of the second, when Katie Chifcian '09 drove in a run with a RBI single to left field off of UMass starter Bailey Sanders. Nikki Yee '10 drove in another run with a single to center. Dartmouth was able to add another run off of an UMass error to take an early 3-0 lead.
UMass chipped away at the Big Green lead, however, scoring a run in the bottom of the second, third and fourth innings.
In the top of the sixth, Dartmouth got a golden opportunity when a walk and an error, followed up by a bunt by Kirsten Costello '10, set up two runners in scoring position. The Big Green broke the tie when Chifcian got her second RBI off of another single to left field.
Ashley Gleason '09 praised Chifcian's batting in the second game.
"Katie Chifcian had a great game," Gleason said. "In the first game we didn't hit well, but in the second game, we got a good team effort and she stood out with two hits and two RBIs."
Just as the Big Green gained the lead, UMass tallied four runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game away. The Minutewomen were able to get those four runs despite the team's failure to hit any extra-base hits in their half of the inning.
Gleason hit an RBI single in the top of the seventh for the Big Green, but it was not enough as Balschmiter closed out the game for her second win on the day.
Balschmiter pitched five and a third innings in relief, striking out seven Big Green batters. The Big Green's Devin Lindsay '11 struck out three batters in her third complete game of the season.
Despite the losses, Gleason thought the pitching staff had a good outing against a dangerous UMass lineup.
"Our pitchers have been strong all year. Umass has a loaded lineup, so I think our pitchers did a good job against them," Gleason said.
Gleason hopes the improvement in play from the first game to the second will carry over as the team heads into conference play.
"I think the first game we struggled hitting," Gleason said. "But in the second game we made a huge improvement, so we can head into the weekend with a good feeling."
This weekend, the Big Green will begin its slate of Ivy League contests. The team will visit Princeton for a doubleheader on Saturday, traveling to Ithaca to take on Cornell in another twinbill on Sunday.
Gleason hopes that the team will be in sync offensively heading into conference play.
"We're going to work on our consistency with our hitting so that we can score more runs," Gleason said. "Our pitching has been strong all year so we're not really worried about that. We're also going to work on our consistency with fielding and just improving from where we are at this point in the season."
