Pitching propels softball to success

The Middlebury College softball team beat Amherst in two of three games this weekend in Amherst, Mass., improving the Panthers’ record to 11-6 overall and 2-1 in the NESCAC West division. With the series loss, the Lord Jeffs fall to 9-7 overall and 1-2 in the division.

The teams faced off once on Friday afternoon and twice on Saturday with the Panthers winning all but the finale.

On Friday, Geena Constantin ’11 pitched a complete game shutout for the Panthers, while allowing just two hits and walking two, for her fourth victory against just two losses on the young season.

The 4-0 Middlebury victory was indicative of the team’s style up to this point in the season. The Panthers scored four or more runs for the eighth and ninth times this year with the weekend wins. Going into the season, co-captains Kristin Maletsky ’10.5 and Sophie Dorot ’10 anticipated success at the plate. In the Friday victory, Constantin also connected three times, batting 1.000 in a game largely marked by her shutout performance from the circle.

The first of the two Saturday games also went the Panthers’ way.

Once again, the visiting team’s bats came alive, as both shortstop Jessa Hoffman ’13 and centerfielder Nellie Wood ’11 had three hits each. Hoffman and first baseman Megan Margel ’11 batted in two runs in apiece.

In both the Friday game and the early Saturday game the Panthers scored first and continued to generate offense late in each game.

“Everyone was hitting and our defense was solid,” said Maletsky. With an 8-2 advantage by the bottom of the seventh inning, pitcher Ali McAnaney’s ’11 fourth victory of the season was well in hand. McAnaney was the second Middlebury hurler to go the distance on the weekend, as she allowed just two earned runs on seven hits over seven innings.

In the series finale, Amherst was able to take advantage of Middlebury’s fourth-inning defensive lapse, scoring three runs in the frame as the Panthers’ bats fell silent for just the second time in 17 games. Constantin had the ball once again for the visitors, throwing six innings and allowing three runs on six hits.

The Lord Jeffs’ star pitcher Alex Chang-Graham tallied the complete-game shutout, salvaging the victory for the weekend’s hosts. The Middlebury defense was once again solid, but without any run support, there was little the Panthers could do to try to sweep the series.

The season has been successful so far for the Panthers. Beating Amherst in a series “was huge for us,” Maletsky said.

Earlier in the week, Middlebury split a two-game series with Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The previous week, the NESCAC awarded pitcher of the week honors to McAnaney for her outstanding performances during the Panthers’ 12-game spring break trip in Florida.

“I relied on the spin of my pitches to keep the batters from connecting on big hits,” said McAnaney of her early success. The reality of the team’s batting prowess was not lost on the star pitcher, as she also noted, “we’re an incredible hitting team.”

Finally, McAnaney touted the cooperative nature of her sport, stating modestly, “I could have never received the honor of pitcher of the week without the eight people playing behind me in those five games in Florida.”

The Panthers will play two games at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on April 6 before returning to Middlebury for a three-game series against Hamilton College the following weekend. The latter series will be the home opener for the Panthers, who will continue to play important NESCAC West division games in the ensuing three weeks.