Medford, Mass. - The Trinity College Bantam softball team came away with a 7-5 victory over the Williams College Ephs in 2011 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship action this afternoon at Tufts University's Spicer Field.  The Bantams, now 22-13, stave off elimination in the double-elimination tournament, while the season for Williams ends with a record of 20-18-1.  With rain postponing the other Saturday action, Trinity will battle the loser of Tufts and Middlebury at approximately 11 am on Sunday. Middlebury currently leads Tufts 1-0 in the fifth inning, as the game will completed at 9 am.  The Bantams need to win three games tomorrow to take home their first NESCAC title and an NCAA Tournament bid.

Trinity began the scoring in the bottom of the first. Senior 2B Katherine Stoltenberg (Montgomery, N.J.) reached on a one-out walk and was followed by first-year C Abby Ostrom's (Carlisle, Mass.) double. Stoltenberg eventually scored from third base on a wild pitch.  Sophomore CF Amelia Mostovoy (San Francisco, Calif.) led off the second inning for the Bantams with a home run, and senior LF Melanie Orphanos (Norton, Mass.) walked and was sacrificed to second by junior RF Nina Yu (Andover, Mass.). With two outs, Stoltenberg connected on a two-out run-scoring double to make it 3-0 in Trinity's favor.

The Ephs were quiet through the first three innings against Trinity junior starting pitcher Kat Poulos (Wilton, Conn.) as they only managed one hit. The fourth inning was a different story as Williams plated three runs on four hits to pull even.  First-year LF Ally Ensor smoked a one-out homer to get the Ephs on the board. The next five batters reached for Williams as sophomore Cedar Blazek singled and sophomore SS Merilee Weston walked to setup back-to-back RBI singles from sophomore C Amanda Correnti and senior Mary Beth Daub.  The tie game did not last long with Trinity re-gaining the advantage in the bottom of the fourth. Yu led off with a single and sophomore SS Caroline Blanchard (Norwich, Conn.) reached on an error. After a sacrifice bunt from Stoltenberg moved both runners over, Ostrom drove them both in with a base hit.  The Bantams doubled their lead to four at 7-3 with another pair in the fifth, capped by another run-scoring hit from Ostrom.  Williams threatened in the seventh inning, but the two insurance runs for Trinity proved to be the difference. The Ephs scored two times, helped out by a pair of Bantam errors as well as a double from Ensor. Poulos struck out the final Eph to hold onto the 7-5 triumph.

Poulos earned the victory in the complete-game effort, allowing five runs (three earned) on nine hits with three walks and five strikeouts.  Williams sophomore starting pitcher Megan Casey suffered the loss after going just 1.2 innings. She gave up three runs and three hits with three walks and one strikeout. Daub pitched the final 4.1 innings for the Ephs, allowing four runs (three earned).

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