The softball team won the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Division III New England Championship on May 10. 

The Judges went through three regional opponents during the tournament weekend, defeating Albertus Magnus College 9-4, the University of Southern Maine 8-0 and Suffolk College 10-5. 

The ECAC title was the second one in the softball team’s history, with the other title coming in the 2007 to 2008 season. 

Judges 9, Albertus Magnus 4

Pitcher Nikki Cote ’15 earned the Most Valuable Player award for the tournament as she picked up the victory on May 10 while giving up three runs, including a home run, in five innings. 

Cote allowed six hits and four walks while striking out seven batters on the day. 

Cote went 2-0 on the weekend with an earned run average of 1.50 while striking out 18 in 14 innings. With the victories, Cote improved her record to 8-1 on the season. Center fielder Amanda Shore ’18 was the dominant player for the Judges on the hitting side, going 3-4 with two runs scored. 

Second baseman Danielle Novotny ’16 drove in four runs for the squad on the backs of two big doubles. First baseman Anya Kamber ’15 had two hits in the contest, one of which went for an important triple in the bottom of the third inning of the contest. 

The hit drove in infielder Leah Shapiro ’17 who herself had two hits, two runs scored and an RBI for the Judges. 

With the game still scoreless in the bottom of the second inning, the squad exploded for six runs to give them a comfortable lead. The team would never look back after gaining the lead. 

In the sixth inning, pitcher Samantha Wroblewski ’17 came in relief of Cote to pick up the two-inning save, her first of the season. 

Judges 8, Southern Maine 0

Cote led the Judges to victory again, going the full five innings of the contest without allowing a run to Southern Maine. 

Cote only gave up two hits on the game while striking out seven in just 16 batters. 

Cote was able to complete the game in an incredible 55 pitches, 42 of which went for strikes. 

On the offensive side, catcher Cori Coleman ’15 led the squad with four RBIs, two of which came on a double to right field in the bottom of the third inning. 

Coleman also scored a run in the same inning when Shore ran out an infield single.

Kamber had another big game for the Judges, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and three runs scored. Shortstop Madison Sullivan ’16 also went 2-3 for the game, scoring two runs to help the cause. 

Right fielder Madison Hunter ’17 was the third player to go 2-3 on the day while also adding one scored run for the squad. 

Sullivan was optimistic heading into the competition. 

She said that the team had “a very positive attitude going into the tournament. We had just won 8 of our last 10 games and we were finally starting to put things together as a team and play the way we knew we could.”

Judges 10, Suffolk 5

The Judges ended the regular season sweeping Suffolk in a double-header 10-2 and 8-0 on April 29 at home. 

After Suffolk got the first run on the scoreboard, infielder Allison Hecht ’17 scored off of a Coleman single and two throwing errors from Suffolk in the bottom of the second inning. Hunter doubled to left field in the same inning to score Coleman and give the Judges the 2-1 lead. 

The team would never relinquish the lead as the entire squad contributed to the effort. Shapiro was the big hitter for the day, going 2-for-5 with a total of four RBIs off of an important double. Sullivan was also big for the Judges with two RBIs off of a 2-or-3 afternoon. 

Hunter, Kamber and first baseman Jordan Buscetto ’16 also each added an RBI for the team. 

Hunter, Novotny, Shore and Coleman all scored two runs apiece for the Judges.  

Cote got the start once again for the Judges, this time only going four innings while being unable to pick up the victory. 

Cote allowed one unearned run on three hits and one walk while striking out four. 

Wroblewski came in again to relieve Cote and managed to pick up the victory in her three short innings of work. 

She allowed four runs, only one of which was earned, while giving up four hits and striking out a  total of three batters. 

Every Judges starter had a hit in the Judges’ incredible total of 16 in the contest. 

Sullivan and the team recognized the adversity that they faced in approaching the championship game against Albertus Magnus.

“Despite some injuries, we had  strong practices leading up to the tournament. Our pitchers were able to keep runners off the bases and our bats started to really come alive.” she said. 

The Judges closed the season at 21-14 overall, including an 11-2 record in home games.

The squad performed well in big games throughout the long season.

It was able to defeat conference foes, New York University and Case Western Reserve University.

Along with the UAA victories, it was successful against regional competition such as Bates College, the University of Massachusetts Boston and Bowdoin College.

Sullivan finished the year as the offensive leader of the team, compiling a team-high of 36 RBIs and seven home runs. The seniors on the team all played major roles, both on and off the field. 

Sullivan remarked that “Our seniors have played a huge part of this Brandeis softball program. They have been our leaders both on and off the field and taught us what it takes to be a successful athlete for the judges. We are going to miss having them as part of our softball family, but we hope to set the same example for underclassmen that they set for us.”