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Brandeis Earns Split With NAIA Foes on Opening Day

Brandeis Earns Split With NAIA Foes on Opening Day
Posted: Feb 24, 2017

From Brandeis University Athletics

The Brandeis University softball team took on a pair of NAIA opponents on the opening day of their 2017 season in Florida today, with the Judges defeating Middle Georgia State University, 3-1, in their season opener before falling to Point Park (Pa.), 8-2, in their second contest.

In the opener, rookie Scottie Todd (Tampa, Fla. / Strawberry Crest) was outstanding in her collegiate debut. In the circle, she tossed a complete game, allowing eight hits but just one earned run. Todd struck out five and did not walk a batter. At the plate, she went 1-2 with a walk and scored a run.

The Judges got all the scoring they would need in the top of the second inning. Todd led off the frame with a walk and moved to second on an MGA error on senior Madison Hunter's (Parker, Colo./Legend) bunt. After the pair moved up on a ground out, sophomore LF Marissa DeLaurentis (Centereach, N.Y. / St.John the Baptist Diocesesan) singled to bring  home Todd. Hunter came home from second on a dropped third when the throw to first was wild.

The Judges added another run in the fifth when DeLaurentis doubled to lead off the inning and scored on sophomore catcher Keri Lehtonen's (Oneco, Conn./Plainfield) single.

Middle Georgia finally got one back in the sixth on a Sabrina Doucette grounder that plated Madison Bivins, who doubled to lead off the inning. Todd stranded two runners on to escape further damage.

Lehtonen and deLaurentis each had two hits in three at-bats, while Hunter contributed two sacrifice bunts. MGA's Harley Roberts had three of the Knights' eight hits, while pitcher Meagan Coleman had two more. Coleman suffered the loss despite giving up just five hits in seven innings, as she fell to 1-2 on the season.

Against Point Park, the Judges struggled in the field committing seven errors and causing all but one of the Pioneers' runs to be unearned. Brandeis fell behind, 8-0, but kept PPU off the board in the final three innings, while scoring twice. In the bottom of the fourth, DeLaurentis struck again with a leadoff double. She scored on a single by senior Allison Hecht (Melville, N.Y. / Half Hollow Hills East). In the sixth, rookie 3B PJ Ross (Kingston, N.H./Sanborn Regional) doubled with one away, then scored on a Marysa Massoia (Feeding Hills, Mass. / Suffield Acad.) single.

Six different Judges accounted for their seven hits, with Ross being the only multiple hitter. Ross and DeLaurentis's doubles were the only extra-base hits for the Judges.

Rookie Callie MacDonald (Hanover, Mass. / Hanover) suffered the loss, going 5.2 innings with three strikeouts and a walk. She allowed eight hits and eight runs, only one earned. PPU's Ashley Iagnemma tossed a complete game, striking out nine and walking just one in seven innings. She gave up seven hits and two earned runs.