HANOVER — Something about that home cooking seems to have served Dartmouth College’s softball team well over the last decade. Friday afternoon’s doubleheader with the University of Pennsylvania was no exception, as the Big Green settled for a split — an 8-5 win followed by a 6-3 loss — with the Quakers at Dartmouth Softball Park for its first Ivy League victory of the year.
Now, Dartmouth hopes the taste of home is enough to help right the ship.
The Big Green entered the home opener with a 3-17 overall record, 0-3 in Ivy League play, less than six months since hiring former Middlebury College star Jen Williams as the program’s seventh head coach. It hasn’t been pretty: Dartmouth entered the doubleheader — moved up a day due to weather concerns — with the Ivy League’s third-lowest batting average (.248), second-lowest ERA (6.24) and a conference-worst 31 errors and .936 fielding percentage.
Williams — who became the winningest softball coach in her eight seasons at NCAA Division III’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining D-I’s Dartmouth — said she’s seen progress from her detail-oriented approach, even if the results haven’t shown up on the scoreboard. Getting a conference victory out of the way, Williams said, was a step in the right direction.
“I think (the first 22 games) could, in some part, be due to transition (between coaches), but I also think it’s about figuring out what does this team need, how does this team operate,” said Williams, who finished her four-year playing career at Middlebury as the all-time leader in career wins (32), complete games (41) and innings pitched (327⅓). “They have to figure that out about themselves, the coaches have to figure that out about them and then we all work together to figure out what exactly they need during practices, during games and what they need to ask of themselves.”
For Dartmouth freshman pitcher Madie Augusto, the first few weeks of the season have, if anything, been somewhat of a learning experience. She also said the lopsided record is not indicative of how the team has played thus far.
“It’s been a process, a lot of focusing on the little things to go for our big end goal,” said Augusto, who leads the team with 10 starts and 19 appearances. “Our team doesn’t focus on the outcomes, we focus on the ways to get there. Today, we took big steps on things like breathing, being mentally here instead of overwhelming ourselves.
“It’s a motivator as well as a fire to get to where we want to be. Everything we do is for a purpose. … I feel like our record doesn’t show the hard work we’ve put into the game and how we’ve all worked together to get our jobs done.”
Dartmouth’s win in game one was its fourth of the season, its first since March 19 and second since picking up two victories in late February at the season-opening Holy City Showdown in Charleston, S.C.
Dartmouth senior third baseman Morgan Martinelli led the Big Green with four RBIs in the opener, starting things off offensively with a two-run home run — her first of the season — in the bottom of the first inning.
Taylor Ward and Micah Schroder added back-to-back home runs in the third inning, giving Dartmouth a 4-0 lead, chasing Quaker starting pitcher Jennifer Brann after 2⅓ innings. But the Big Green broke loose against Penn reliever Tabitha Dyer in the fourth with a four-run rally on three hits, two walks, a hit batter and an error, building a 8-2 lead heading into the fifth. It never looked back.
But Penn — which entered the game leading the Ivy League with a .292 batting average in 21 games — refused to go away quietly. It got on the board with two runs in the top of the fourth inning, and added to it with a run in the fifth and another two runs in the sixth to cut the deficit to three.
Augusto shut the door in the last 1⅔ innings, striking out three — including two of the last three batters in the seventh — while allowing a hit and a walk secure the save.
Big Green starter Shelby Wilkison gave up five hits, three runs — one earned — and four walks and struck out four in 4⅓ innings, earning her second victory in 17 appearances and eight starts. Ward, Schroder, Martinelli, Tessa Grosman and McKenna Gray all had two hits for Dartmouth in the victory.
“The big thing we’ve been working on is if something doesn’t go right for us in an inning, if a hit is given up or if there’s an error, then we immediately lock this right back down,” Williams said. “We didn’t have a perfect game, but championship teams don’t have to have a perfect game. They just have to be able to control themselves and their play immediately. We saw a lot more of that in that game.”
Dartmouth’s bats fell silent in game two against a solid outing by Penn freshman starter Julia Longo, managing only three runs on five hits in the loss. Ward drove in junior outfielder Calista Almer in the fifth inning and sophomore catcher Schae Nelson hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to round out the Big Green’s scoring. Nelson finished Game 2 with a 2-for-3 effort at the plate.
Longo went a complete game seven innings for the Quakers, striking out three in the fifth start and 10th appearance of her rookie year.
Penn’s offense jumped on both Dartmouth starter Brooke Plonka and reliever Augusto. The Quakers’ Sarah Cwiertnia opened the scoring with a three-run homer in the top of the third, helping to chase Plonka after 3⅓ innings. The Big Green starter allowed four hits, three runs — two earned — two walks and struck out two in her second start of the season and first since March 3.
Augusto allowed six hits and three runs in 2⅔ innings of relief. Penn added to its lead in the top of the sixth inning, a solo home run by Emma Nedley and a two RBI double by Julia Schneider.
Dartmouth and Penn play the third and final game of its series today at Dartmouth Softball Park at 12:30 p.m. The Big Green travel to Yale for a three-game series next week.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.