Softball (15-23, 6-10) Posts 1-5 Mark, Faces Brandeis for First Time Since 1997 Season

The Wheaton College softball team completed its season with a 1-5 mark last week, including losing three of four New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) games to tie for sixth in the final league standings. On Tuesday, the Lyons took on non-conference foe Brandeis University for the first time since 1997, being swept at home by 10-5 and 3-2 counts. Wheaton split at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) on Friday, dropping the opener just 1-0 before winning the nightcap 3-2. Against visiting Clark University on Saturday, Wheaton lost 2-1 and 8-4 decisions.

Versus Brandeis, Wheaton employed rallies in both contests before falling shy. The Lyons overcame a 3-0 deficit to knot the contest by the third inning in game one, but the Judges scored the next seven runs. Sophomore Katy Salka (Ayer, MA/Ayer) went 2-for-3 with two RBI, classmate Marissa Hobocan (Shelton, CT/Saint Joseph) added a pair of knocks, and sophomore Kristen Hunt (Milford, CT/Jonathan Law) walked twice. In the second game, Wheaton yielded the first three runs, drew within one but left the tying run at third base in the seventh. Senior Stacey Kelleher (Brockton, MA/Brockton) homered and was 2-for-3 with two runs, and freshman Emily O'Connell (Kennebunk, ME/Kennebunk) went 2-for-3. Freshman Lesley Warn (Portland, ME/Deering) took the loss, allowing three runs in three innings, before junior Andrea Bagley (Foxboro, MA/Foxboro) fired four no-hit innings.

At WPI, Bagley yielded just one run on four hits to earn a hard-luck loss in the opener, with Salka going 2-for-3, before tossing three perfect innings out of the bullpen to draw the win during the second contest. Kelleher's one-out single in the seventh snapped a tie after senior Brady Benton's (Concord, NH/Concord) two-run single in the opening frame had given the Lyons a lead. Kelleher, Salka and senior Lynn Cotto (Brookfield, CT/Brookfield) each had two hits. Warn allowed two runs in four innings.

Kelleher's homer in the fourth inning of the opener against Clark tied the contest before the Cougars scored in the seventh during an eventual sweep. Bagley yielded two runs during a complete-game effort, while O'Connell had Wheaton's other hit. Salka drilled her first collegiate home run, a three-run shot, to bring the Lyons within 6-4 in the sixth inning of the nightcap. She finished 2-for-3, Bagley surrendered three runs in three innings, and Warn allowed five runs, all unearned, in four frames.

With 14 sacrifice bunts on the season, Hobocan tied for second in program history, falling one shy of assistant coach Jill D'Arcy's '01 11-year-old school record. Freshman Amanda Poplaski (North Reading, MA/North Reading) tied for third in times hit by a pitch (5), Kelleher tied for eighth (4), and Bagley finished 10th in pitching appearances (28).

Benton finished eighth in program history in career home runs (14), while Kelleher placed 10th (12). Kelleher stands tied for second in times hit by a pitch (8), seventh in slugging percentage (.614), eighth in batting average (.401), tied for ninth in doubles (32) and 10th in on-base percentage (.466). Poplaski is tied for 10th in hit-by-pitches. Bagley stands fourth in strikeouts (214), sixth in pitching appearances (66) and innings (299.2), tied for seventh in complete games (30) and eighth in wins (25).