April 17, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703

Softball Splits Doubleheader at Amherst

Northampton, MA: The Pioneers split a non-conference doubleheader at Amherst yesterday taking the first game 9-3 but dropping the second 3-2. Smith now stands at 10-18 overall while the Jeffs are 9-14.

Amherst took a 1-0 lead in the opening inning of the first game but the Pioneers put four unearned runs on the board in the second.  Junior Jessie Paull (Mercer Island, WA) drew a walk followed by Emily Hiltzik (Westbury, NY) who reached on a fielder's choice while Paull advanced to second on an error.  Laura Robitzek (Auburn, ME) then reached on a fielding error to load the bases.  Megan Kiefer (Oak Park, IL), Katie Schoenen (Ellicott City, MD) and Erin Quinn (Northbrook, IL) all singled to give Smith a 4-1 lead. The Pioneers added another run in the third and broke the game open in the seventh with four more runs on singles by Hiltzik and Salma Mehter (Seattle, WA) and doubles by Kiefer, Schoenen and Quinn. Hiltzik picked up the win for Smith as she gave up 6 hits and two runs in five innings.

In the second game, Amherst took a 3-0 lead scoring one in the second and two in the fourth. Smith closed the gap to 3-2 in the sixth inning but the score stood for Amherst's win. With one out and bases loaded, Schoenen scored Smith's first run on a wild pitch and Hiltzik singled to drive in Quinn but a ground out ended the inning for the Pioneers. Dezarai Fisher (Phoeniz, AZ) gave up 3 runs on hits in 3.1 innings pitched for Smith.

Kiefer went 4-for-9 with 2 RBI's; Schoenen, 4-for-8 with 3 RBI's; Quinn, 4-for-7 with 3 RBI's on the day.  The Pioneers will be in action again on Friday when they resume NEWMAC competition at WPI with the doubleheader set for 3:30 pm.