The Brandeis softball team continues their historic run as they finish their season with an impressive 27–6–1 record. 

How it happened

The Judges finished their season with 27 wins due to an overpowering offense, strong pitching performances and an experienced coaching staff. The team earned five All-University Athletic Association honors as well as a Coaching Staff of the Year award. Scottie Todd ’20 also earned Pitcher of the Year.  

The season’s offense was led by Jolie Fujita ’21, who hit a .421 average for the year, including four homers and six doubles. Todd hit a .400 average while leading the team in homeruns     with five. Keri Lehtonen ’19 hit .301 with a conference, leading 15 doubles on the year. First-year Marley Felder ’22 also hit an impressive .355 average with 22 runs batted in. 

The Judges’ pitching staff was also a standout, as first-year Sydney Goldman ’22 and Todd combined for 25 wins this year. Todd finished with a 2.03 earned run average over 100 innings and Goldman finished with a 2.09 earned run average over 104 innings.

Overall

Although they dropped four games against Emory University, the Judges finished nationally ranked at number 20 and earned a NCAA regional berth for the first time since 2010. The Judges will now have to travel to Ithaca, New York to begin regional play. Their quest to a NCAA title will begin on Friday, May 10 when they take on Penn State University Berks. The regional competition will be double elimination, so losing the first round does not guarantee that they drop out of the bracket, but winning is essential for the Judges to continue. The Judges finished first in all of Division III in runs scored. 

For the past five seasons, the Brandeis softball team has obtained records of 21-14 (.600), 18-19 (.486), 13-17 (.433), 11-21 (.344) and 29-7-1 (.797), respectively. The team improved greatly this year as seen by these statistics.

In an interview with the Justice, Keri Lehtonen ’19 explained, “[The softball team is] a family away from home. I have 20 people that I can talk to anything about-good or bad they are always there for me. And no matter how long I have known my teammates for I have a network of friends for life.” She also said, “Our goals were to have fun and have a better record than last year, and we blew those goals out of the water. We had a 16 game unbeaten streak and made the NCAA Tournament! I’m preparing to graduate this weekend and I am going to miss my team so much, and I am so so proud of them.”