Hartford, Conn. – Trinity freshman 3B Caroline
Blanchard (Norwich, Conn.) hit a walk-off two-run double
in the second game of a doubleheader, while Wesleyan sophomore
SS/RHP Dana Levy (Westport, Conn.) hit three
homeruns and knocked in seven RBI in game one, as the Trinity
College Bantams and Wesleyan University Cardinals split a pair of
games, 0/9-9/8, in softball action this afternoon at Campus
Field. Trinity ends their regular season at 20-14 while the
Cardinals stand at 18-14-1. Blanchard's game-winning
hit in the final at-bat of the afternoon gives Trinity their third
20-win season in the last five years.
Blanchard came to plate with the bases loaded and her team
trailing 8-7 in the bottom of the seventh inning before blasting a
one-out double to left-center to plate sophomore C Kristina
Yu (Andover, Mass.) and senior OF Jessica Tait
(North Salem, N.Y.), ending a back-and-forth offensive
battle with an exclamation point. Wesleyan had taken an 8-5 lead
after scoring three runs in the top half of the inning, before
Trinity would answer with four runs on five hits and a walk in the
bottom half of the inning.
Trinity had jumped out to a 5-1 lead early in the game, courtesy
of a four-run third inning, before Wesleyan would score four runs
to tie the game at 5-5 in the sixth inning, highlighted by a
three-run blast off the bat of Wesleyan sophomore Sam
Epstein (Hewlett, N.Y.). Trinity junior 1B
Nicole Nardella (Beverly, Mass.) picked up three
hits and two RBI in the win, while Epstein finished with four RBI
for the Cardinals.
Earlier in the afternoon, Wesleyan was dominant on both the
offensive and defensive side of the diamond, as Levy would
contribute a career performance, belting three homeruns, a Wesleyan
single-game record, and racking up seven RBI, which ties her for
the Wesleyan record in that category. Her standout
performance didn't end at the plate, as Levy would also pick
up the save on the hill – Wesleyan's first of the
season – as she pitched three innings of one-hit shutout
softball.
Senior UT Meaghan Dendy (Swansea, Mass.)
started game one on the hill for the Cardinals, and earned the win,
pitching four innings, while allowing no runs on two hits to go
along with three strikeouts. Trinity junior RHP
Kristen Anderson (West Haven, Conn.) earns the win
for the Bantams in game two in 1.2 innings of relief for the
Bantams. Sophomore RHP Susan Arnold (Berwyn,
Penn.) started on the hill for Trinity, but did not factor
in the decision in 5.1 innings of work. Tait highlighted the
Bantam offense, racking up five hits on the afternoon, boosting her
average to a team-high .395.
Trinity can qualify for the NESCAC Championship Tournament with
three Tufts losses or two Bowdoin losses this weekend.
Wesleyan squares off with Middlebury in a three-game series this
weekend, needing two wins to punch a ticket to postseason
play.
Game 1 box
score
Game 2 box
score
