AMHERST – Theresa Kelley and Arielle Doering each delivered a complete game victory as the Amherst College softball team swept a non-conference doubleheader (4-1, 5-3) against Westfield State on Wednesday.
Kelley struck out 12 and blasted a two-run homer to key the 4-1 win in the opener. Doering took a no-hitter into the sixth and Reilly Horan went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a home run and 3 RBI as the Jeffs took the nightcap, 5-3.
Amherst improved to 14-5 with the sweep while Westfield State fell to 3-10.
Kelley was dominant in the opener, fanning a dozen Owls in the complete game effort while yielding just four hits and one walk as she improved to 8-1 on the year. In addition to Kelley’s round-tripper, Caroline Sealander sparked the offense with a 2-for-3 performance as she blasted her first career home run.
Celina Sinico was 2-for-3 for Westfield, picking up the lone Owl run as she homered to lead off the seventh. Kelley Fluet took the loss, falling to 2-3 as she surrendered two runs over four innings on five hits and no walks.
Kelley and Fluet dueled through three, scattering just a pair of hits each, but Amherst broke through in the bottom of the fourth. Horan provided the big blast with a one-out triple off the top of the center field wall and Carolyn Miller lined an RBI single up the middle to put the Jeffs on top.
With Kelley still cruising, Sealander made it a two-run cushion as she led off the fifth with a lined shot over the fence in left center, knocking Fluet from the game.
With Caitlyn Kadlik coming on in relief, Kelley made things more comfortable for herself in the sixth as she blasted a two-run homer to left. Picking up just the third hit of the game off Kelley, Sinico broke up the shutout as she led off the seventh with a towering fly over the wall in center.
Doering was strong for Amherst in the nightcap, surrendering just a pair of walks and no hits over the first five innings before finishing the complete game with eight strikeouts and just a single earned run allowed on three hits.
Emily Mailloux went all six innings for Westfield, surrendering four earned runs on nine hits while striking out five and walking one.
Horan staked the Jeffs to a second-inning lead as she led off the frame with a high blast over the wall in left. Amherst added two more in the fourth when Horan doubled, Sealander reached on an error, and Brianna Cook delivered a pinch-hit two-run double down the line in left. In the fifth, Horan nearly added a second round-tripper, but her blast off the left field fence stayed in the park for a two-run double, making it 5-0.
Westfield mounted a rally in the sixth as Molly Dunbar broke up Doering’s no-hit bid with a leadoff double then came in to score on an RBI single by Breanne Bisceglia.
The Owls tacked on two unearned runs on a wild play in which Sinico hit a comebacker to the mound and the Jeffs cut down Amanda Flower at the plate in a rundown, but a throwing error by Doering allowed Bisceglia and Sinico to each come around and score.
Both teams will be back in action on their home diamonds on Thursday, with Amherst hosting Smith in a doubleheader beginning at 3:30 p.m. and Westfield State welcoming Western Connecticut at 3:00 p.m.
