The women’s softball team struggled in intense competition on the road against University Athletic Association competitor Washington University in St. Louis. The Judges dropped all four games they played in the three-day weekend series to one of the top teams in the conference.

Judges 0, WashU 8 

The final game of the series on Sunday featured a sluggish performance from Brandeis. The team was only able to string along two total hits during the game. Center fielder Amanda Shore ’18 collected a hit in her only official at-bat of the afternoon.

Pitcher Callie Macdonald ’20 got the start for the Judges, going four innings while giving up a total of five runs. Only one of those five were earned, however, as poor defense culminated in a total of seven errors on the day. Pitcher Sadie-Rose Apfel ’18 came in for relief of Macdonald, giving up three earned runs in only a third of an inning pitched.

Judges 4, WashU 9 

On Saturday afternoon, the team put the first runs of the game on the board in the second inning, when catcher Keri Lehtonen ’19 reached base on a walk and stole two bases. With second baseman Brianna Urena ’19 on first, the Judges executed a double steal, ultimately scoring Lehtonen on the rare steal of home. Urena was unable to come home in the inning as the visitors clung to a one-run lead.

Washington came back in the bottom of the inning with a vengeance, scoring a flood of seven runs on seven base hits. The Brandeis defense did not help pitcher Scottie Todd ’20, with the squad making two errors to help the Washington offense. Washington batted around in the inning, ending the second with a dominant score of 7-1 over the Judges.

Todd was replaced on the mound by pitcher Melissa Soleimani ’17. Soleimani was able to slow down the bleeding, only allowing two more runs over the rest of the game. However, the Judges’ offensive attack was unable to put up much of a fight against the Bears. Todd added a two-run double in the seventh, the only glimmer of hitting power during the contest from the squad. Todd also took the loss in the game, falling to 8-6 on the year.

Judges 0, WashU 4 

The squad was shut out in the second game of a doubleheader against Washington on Friday. Macdonald threw the ball well for the first three innings of the game, holding Washington off the scoreboard until the fourth inning. In the fourth and fifth innings, Macdonald gave up a combined four earned runs as her record dropped to 1-6 on the season.

Apfel came in for Macdonald in relief in the fifth inning, only giving up one base hit in two strong innings. The Judges could not get much offense going in the game, only coming up with four hits.

Judges 1, WashU 4 

The first game of the series was another tough one for the Judges as they could not get their bats going. Todd pitched a strong game early, just giving up one run through the first four innings of the contest. The fifth inning was where things got dicey for Todd and the squad. Washington came alive with a total of three runs scored.

In the top of seventh, Lehtonen led off with a single. Later on in the inning, shortstop Madison Hunter ’17 doubled home Lehtonen for the club’s only run of the game. The team failed to score after that and handed WashU the victory. 

The Judges’ record fell to 11-16 overall after the weekend. The squad will be back in action this afternoon with two games at Clark University.