Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Dartmouth Softball Goes 2-2 in James Madison Tournament


Cold weather in the mid-Atlantic gave softball a day off on Friday. Although temperatures remained relatively cool through the weekend, Dartmouth started heating up as the team competed in the James Madison Tournament in Harrisonburg, Virg., splitting consecutive double-headers on Saturday and Sunday.

“We made a little fire under ourselves to really get us going and get us playing as a team,” Kelsey Miller ’16 said.

Dartmouth bounced back from a rough weekend last week in the Florida International Tournament but, due to cold weather, had to wait until Saturday to play as both of Friday’s games were cancelled.

If anything, Dartmouth was more prepared to play in the cold than its opponents because of Hanover’s cold weather, Karen Chaw ’17 said.

Dartmouth went on to defeat Penn State 6-3 for its first win of the season before caving to Fairfield 7-3.

“It was really exciting to see the team improve from the changes we made since we last played in Florida,” Chaw said.

Chaw won the Ivy League’s first 2014 Rookie of the Week after hitting .333, with a two-run homer and three RBIs, last weekend in the Florida International Tournament. She continued to stand out in Dartmouth’s batting order this weekend, hitting a pair of home runs on Saturday for five RBIs.

Kristen Rumley ’15 and Miller also contributed with three hits each, and Rumley went on to earn her first win of the season, allowing three runs on 10 hits.

Chaw’s first homer couldn’t have come at a better against Penn State. Down 2-0 in the fifth, Chaw homered for three, putting Dartmouth into the lead. A solo shot to left-center allowed Penn State to tie the game, but Dartmouth seized the lead for good with an RBI double by Brianna Lohmann ’16.

In the top of the seventh, Dartmouth added another two runs to seal the game off Chloe Madill ‘17’s double.
The second half of Saturday’s double-header started badly for Dartmouth, as Fairfield jumped to a quick 3-0 lead with a three-run homer in the first. Dartmouth responded in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer by Chaw, her second of the day.

Fairfield added another run in the fifth for a 4-2 lead before exploding for another three-run inning in the sixth.

With the game out of reach in the bottom of the seventh, Kara Curosh ’14 crushed a solo home run to left field.

Whereas Chaw was the offensive star for Dartmouth on Saturday, Miller took on the role Sunday, generating five hits on the day, including a lead-off home run against Fairfield. Chaw also performed strongly, notching two hits and two RBIs against James Madison University.

In the first game of its Sunday double-header, a rematch against Fairfield, Dartmouth avenged its loss the previous day with a 4-1 outing.

Rumley was the girl on fire in earning her second win, throwing yet another complete game with nine strikeouts, four hits and just the one run. Rumley’s afternoon was made much easier with excellent run support. She herself notched an RBI, scoring McCalmon on a double in the seventh to seal the game.

Fairfield responded to Miller’s lead-off homer in the bottom of the first with a triple that brought home Fairfield’s leadoff hitter.

Neither team could generate hits over the next five innings as Rumley and her Fairfield counterpart, senior Rebecca Trott, shut down the opposing offense until the sixth inning when Katie McEachern ‘16’s home run to deep center broke the tie, making it 3-1.

Dartmouth nearly eked out a victory over JMU, but a walk-off double stole Dartmouth’s moment and handed JMU a dramatic 3-2 win.

“We did a lot of the little things right such as stringing hits together,” Miller said. “Even though we ended up losing, it was definitely one of our best games.”

Rumley’s pitching services were once again called into action, and she held JMU scoreless for the first five innings. Unfortunately, Dartmouth’s batting lineup was also held in check.

Dartmouth finally scored in the fifth as Chaw’s hit to center field scored runners on first and second, putting Dartmouth on top 2-0 with two innings left.

Needing just six outs for another victory, Rumley tried to close the game but JMU finally scored on a single and a sacrifice fly, tying the game heading into the final inning. McCalmon then relieved Rumley, who ended her day after pitching almost 13 straight innings.

Dartmouth loomed with runners in scoring position but Chaw, who had been batting strong all weekend and was the reason Dartmouth was tied, popped out. After a sacrifice bunt to put a runner in scoring position, JMU would win the game with a double to center field that scored the winning run.

Dartmouth won’t play again until Mar. 14 when the Big Green heads west to compete in the University of California-Santa Barbara Tournament and the LMU Tournament.

“As a team we’re working in practice to get better and I don’t think this is the end of our improvements,” Chaw said. “The team will continue to progressively improve.”

No comments:

Post a Comment