Late-Inning Heroics Lift Dartmouth to Sweep of Brown

Sunday, April 10

Hanover, N.H.

12:30 PM

Dartmouth College

11-20, 5-3

Brown

11-17, 3-8

Brown

Dartmouth

Celebration at the plate after Jenna Brown's walk-off home run in game two

Photo by: Doug Austin

Late-Inning Heroics Lift Dartmouth to Sweep of Brown

4/10/2022 7:45:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game 1 Box Score Game 1 Highlights Game 2 Box Score Game 2 Highlights Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

The Big Green won game one in eight innings and then came back from a five-run deficit to win on a walk-off two run home run from Jenna Brown in game two.

By: Nick Romei

HANOVER, N.H. – The Dartmouth softball team (12-20, 6-3) used some late-inning heroics to take the doubleheader over Brown (11-18, 3-9) on Sunday afternoon at Dartmouth Softball Park to complete the three-game sweep for the weekend.

The Big Green extend their winning streak to seven games, their longest since the 2018 season.

With the two wins today, head coach Jen Williams has reached 200 wins in her career as a head coach, 168 at MIT and 32 at Dartmouth.

Game 1: Dartmouth 5, Brown 4 (8 innings)

Billie McFadyen and Jenna Brown both had two hits and one RBI at the plate for the Big Green. Mary Beth Cahalan and Maria Angelino each chipped in one RBI. Brooke Plonka had six strikeouts in five innings.

Elayna Tsiouplis had three hits for the Bears while Grace Ladd had two hits and two RBI.

Dartmouth started off on the strong foot as Plonka struck out two batters in the first. In the next half inning, Cahalan hit a sac fly to center field that sent Maddie Katona across the plate for the 1-0 lead.

A two-run homer from Ladd in the fourth gave Brown a 2-1 lead. The Big Green answered immediately in the bottom of the inning. Brown had an RBI double and advanced to third on a throwing error. On the very next play, Angelino ripped a double to left field to send Brown home to take the lead, 3-2.

The Bears took a 4-3 lead after scoring a run in both the fifth and sixth. Facing a one-run deficit with two outs in the seventh, up steps Billie McFadyen. On the first pitch, McFadyen launched a solo shot to center field to tie the game and send it to extra innings.

In the bottom of the eighth, with Brown on first and Kate Farren on third, Emily Lipsett hit a driven ball towards the shortstop. The shortstop overthrow first base and Lipsett reached safely, allowing Farren to score and earn the Big Green the win.

Game 2: Dartmouth 9, Brown 7

Leila Hennessy and Maddie Katona both went 3-for-3 at the plate while Jenna Brown had two hits, including her first career home run, and three RBI. Brown also had a double as well as Hennessy and Ferran. Megan Hagge picked up her first career win, allowing two hits and zero runs in three innings.

Vanessa Alexander, Kat Clum, and Leah Carey each had two hits for the Bears while Brianna Rodriguez hit a home run.

McFadyen kept the hot bat going right away in game two as she singled up the middle in the first, scoring Lipsett, to give the Big Green a 1-0 lead. The Bears scored two in the second inning, but the lead was short-lived as Cahalan hit an RBI single to center in the third to tie the game, 2-2.

Brown had a big fourth inning, scoring five runs to take a 7-2 lead. Rodriguez hit a two-run homer in the inning and Katie O'Leary had a two RBI double to center field.

The Big Green started to chip away at the deficit when Farren hit an RBI double to right center to cut the Brown lead down to four. In the fifth, Alaana Panu hit a two-run double to left field and on the following play, Brown doubled to left field to send Hennessy across the plate to cut the deficit to one.

After neither team scored in the sixth and the Bears held scoreless in the seventh, Dartmouth was once again faced with the task of scoring one run in the seventh to keep the game going or take the win.

The Big Green tied the game when Farren reached on a fielder's choice and a throwing error from the Bears' third baseman sent Izzy Kam, the tying run, from first to home, making it 7-7. In the next at-bat, Panu laid down a bunt to try and send Farren home but was tagged out before crossing the plate.

As mentioned earlier, Jenna Brown hit her first career home run, and is there a better time to do it than a walk-off home run? Nope.

Brown stepped up the plate and with a 1-0 count, she hammered the ball over the left field fence for the walk-off home run to complete the three-game sweep of the Bears and extending the Big Green winning streak to seven.

Dartmouth looks to keep the streak going next weekend at Penn. The games will be available to stream on ESPN+ and Stretch Internet.