CLERMONT, Fla. — Rebecca Duncan made sure the Williams College softball team bounced back from its first loss of the season Saturday, throwing a three-hit shutout at Loras College as Williams finished with a split on the day with a 5-0 victory.

 

The Ephs are now 9-1 on the season. They play St. Thomas at 9 a.m. Sunday and follow that up with an 11:30 first pitch against Luther College. 

 

Williams saw its eight-game win streak to start the season end with a sloppy 5-4 loss to Wisconsin-Superior in the first game Saturday. But Duncan was on point in the second contest of the day, allowing just three hits and one walk over a complete seven-inning effort in which she struck out 11 batters. 

 

The Ephs snapped a scoreless battle in the bottom of the third when Lexi Curt hit a one-out double to right and scored when Kirstin Mapes lined a two-out single to center field for a 1-0 lead. In the Ephs' third, Brenna Martinez led off by reaching on an error. With one out, Riley Salvo scored Martinez all the way from first with a ooming double to left field. With two outs, Jessica Kim came through with an RBI-single to right for a 3-0 lead. 

 

It stayed 3-0 until the bottom of the sixth when Duncan beat out a roller to second. With two outs, Margo Beck ripped a single and Martinez followed with a two-run double to center field that provided the final score. 

 

Salvo and Beck were 2 for 3 and Kim went 2 for 4 in the victory. Duncan improved to 5-0. 

 

In the first game the Ephs built a 3-0 lead but came apart in the third as two errors and four hits led to five runs from Superior. 

 

Wlliams took a 3-0 lead in the top of that inning when Cris McElhinney roped an RBI-double that scored Martinez and Kim hit a two-run homer run to center, her first of the season. The Ephs final run came in the top of the seventh when Gabi Medvene-Cirigliano made her collegiate debut at the plate, smacking a pinch-hit solo home run to left to halve the Ephs' deficit. 

 

Sophomore Emma Corbett pitched well but took the loss, allowing seven hits over 5 2/3 innings while walking one and striking out one. Only two of the five runs charged to her were earned. 

 

Men’s Lacrosse

LEWISTON, Maine -- Brendan Hoffman scored four goals, and George Peele made 13 saves to lead Williams (3-3, 3-1 NESCAC) to a 17-8 win over Bates.

 

Williams plays MIT in Colorado on Wednesday.

 

Women’s Lacrosse

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Bates scored six straight second-half goals to take an 11-9 lead and held on for an 11-10 win over Williams on Saturday.

 

Emma Tenbarge and Kara Wolmers each had a hat trick for the Ephs (3-4, 1-3), who go to Schenectady, N.Y., on Thursday to play Union.