Extra-inning victory extra special Softball rides the hard road to first NESCAC win

Author: Peter Baumann

At the end of a long and grueling weekend, the softball team topped the Amherst Lord Jeffs 6-5 in 12 innings last Sunday to run its overall record to 10-11. The much-needed victory was the team's first league win of the year, and puts the Panthers in good position for a stretch run at the NESCAC playoffs.

Due to a rainout Friday, the Panthers were forced to take on division powerhouse Wesleyan three times on Saturday. "To have to face one of the best teams in the NESCAC three times in one day was really difficult," said co-captain Katelyn Cannella '08. "We couldn't seem to get in a good offensive groove all day."

In the first game, the Cardinals broke open a 2-2 game in the fourth inning with a five run outburst that was abetted by two costly Middlebury errors. Adding a few late insurance runs, Wesleyan would win the game 10-4 and set the tone for what would become a very , tough day for the Panthers.

Picking up right where they left off, the Cardinals struck early in game two, plating four runs in the first on their way to an easy 7-1 victory. They did not let up in game three, breaking open a tie game in the sixth with four runs off Middlebury pitcher Geena Constantin '11.

All told, the Panthers committed 11 errors on the day, while surrendering 36 hits to the visitors. Against a team as talented as the visiting Cardinals, the extra outs prooved especially costly.

"We had some rough innings in the field," said Allison Bard '08 who finished the day with three hits. "They were a hard-hitting team and we gave them too much wiggle room."

Fresh off their difficult defeats to the Cardinals, the Panthers had to travel to Amherst the next day to take on the rival Lord Jeffs. "To drop all three [Saturday] and have the confidence to play two more NESCAC games [Sunday] was definitely a challenge," said Cannella. "We really tried to focus on the positives."

However, the positives were not so plentiful against Amherst, as Middlebury dropped their first game 9-0. The Panthers recorded only one hit over the course of the five-inning game, an infield single by Right Fielder Carlier Crawford '11 in the third inning. With a second game looming and with their league record standing at 0-4, the Panthers knew they had to pull together quickly, and they did.

"The second game we were more relaxed," said Cannella. "We stopped pushing and just played our game."

The Panthers jumped out to an early lead with four runs in the first inning, and then watched while the Lord Jeffs scraped across runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings to tie the game and send it to extra innings.

After five scoreless frames, the Panthers got back on the board in the 12th inning. Bard was placed on second base after two consecutive singles when Kristin Maletsky '10 cracked a single through the left side of the infield to plate the go ahead run.

One batter later, Kelsey Chisholm '11, hitting in the leadoff spot because of an injury to Cannella and who "played phenomenally under extreme pressure" according to Bard, lofted a sacrifice fly to left field to give Middlebury what would turn out to be a vital insurance run.

The Lord Jeffs were able to score once in the bottom half of the frame, but Constantin induced a weak ground ball to second base to strand the tying run on third and the Panthers picked up their first NESCAC victory of the year 6-5.

While the weekend's three losses left Middlebury with some work to do in NESCAC play, the Amherst victory provided a glimpse of what is possible for this young and talented team that is finally starting to fully mesh.

"This weekend really helped bring us together, I think," said Bard. "We lost together and we won together. We went through everything as a team."

"Now there are no classes - we are just teammates," added Cannella when asked about the contributions of the team's eight first-years. "We learned a lot from this weekend and it was nice for our rookies to finally get to see what the competition is like in the NESCAC."

With their first win, and a few losses under their belt, the Panthers now turn their attention games with Williams on Friday and Saturday, before finishing up the season-series with Amherst on Sunday. With a few victories, Middlebury will be right back in the thick of things in the always competitive NESCAC west division.