Around the Herd: April 18 to April 25 in Athletics

Baseball

The baseball team played Trinity College last Wednesday, making an incredible comeback to pull out another road win and improving their NESCAC record before the upcoming tournament. During the first four innings, pitcher Caden McClure ’23 allowed three runs, and the offense was barely even able to get on base. While Jack Boyle’s ’25 double brought Jackson Reydel ’23 home to make the score 3-1 at the top of the 5th, neither team was able to score again entering the ninth inning. Boyle, Jackson Reydel, and Michael Perales ’25 loaded the bases with two walks and a single, respectively. Then, Jack Sampedro ’25 cleared the bases with a stunning double to right field and Ryan McIntyre ’25 finished out the inning with an RBI single that brought Sampedro home, putting Amherst in front 4-3. Christian Pedro ’26 was able to close up the game with three statement strikeouts, bringing home the win in stunning fashion.

Over the weekend, the Mammoths played three games against the Wesleyan Cardinals. The team out-hit the Cardinals 15-10 in the first game but narrowly lost 7-8 as they were unable to rally back in the ninth inning. The Mammoths redeemed themselves in their second game, however, making the score 5-1 in the second inning off of some walks that loaded the bases, and two RBI hits from Boyle and Sampedro. Sampedro stamped the victory in the 4th inning with his first home run of the season. Amherst won 8-4. While Jack McDermott ’25 was able to take the lead in the first inning with a home run, it was all downhill from there. The Mammoths only scored again in the seventh inning and lost the game 2-6.

Softball

The softball team played three doubleheaders over the past week. In their first one — against Western New England University — they lost both games by only one run. Both teams had amazing pitching performances that kept the scores low at 0-1 and 2-3.

The Mammoths completely redeemed themselves against their rivals with 4-1 and 7-2 wins over Williams. The first game was marked by Jess Butler’s ’23 beautiful triple towards right-field that brought Dani Torres Werra ’25 and Rachel Lovejoy home after a sacrificial bunt from Sadie Pool ’24 that initially put them on second and third base. In the second game, Amherst continued to dominate by quickly taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning. While the Ephs were able to tie the game up again right after, they were unable to score again, and the Mammoths comfortably marched to victory.

Over the weekend, the team extended their winning streak to four games, with easy 5-2 and 8-4 wins over Hamilton. Again, they immediately took a 2-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back to win the game. The second game was exactly the same only Hamilton showed a little life in the fourth inning, but it ultimately proved to be futile.

The four wins pushed the team to fourth in the NESCAC, putting them in the perfect position for the upcoming tournament.

Track and Field

The men’s track and field team sent athletes to Cambridge, Massachusetts to compete in the Collier Invitational. The highlight of the meet was Alton Machen’s ’24 season-best in the 110m hurdles, which gave him the first college victory of his career. He ran a 15.39. Paolo Canigiula ’25 ran a 10:37.13 to claim third place in the 3000m steeplechase — the time was a personal best. Jack Renda ’23, Braedon Fiume ’24, Max Spelke ’23, George Cahill ’26, Keon Mazdisnian ’23, and Zach Villegas ’26 all placed top ten in their respective events.

The women’s track and field team also competed in the Collier Invitational, featuring some stellar performances. The Mammoths’ best events were the 110m and 400m hurdles. Olivia Steele ’25 and Anaya Thomas ’25 took sixth and eighth place respectively in 110m and Artis Phillips ’25 and Valerie Finke ’25 took fourth and fifth place respectively in 400m. Steele’s 16.05 was a personal best for her in the 100m hurdles. Payton Sorensen ’25 and Annelise Romero ’23 also finished top ten in their events.

Tennis

Men’s tennis took on two NESCAC opponents in Middlebury and Williams but were unable to win either match. They lost 3-6 against Middlebury and 1-8 against Williams ending their regular season with a 10-6 record. The Mammoths face Williams again this weekend in the NESCAC quarterfinal.

Women’s tennis also took on Middlebury and Williams this past weekend. They narrowly fell to Middlebury with a score of 4-5, but were able to pull off a close win against Williams, ending their regular season with a 10-3 record.

Women’s Lacrosse

On Saturday, the Mammoths faced the first-seeded Middlebury Panthers who have a 14-0 record so far this season. So, it wasn’t much of a surprise when Amherst fell behind by ten goals to start off the first quarter. The team tried to rally back off of a stunning solo goal from Emily Petersen ’26 that led to four more goals by the end of the first half, however, the Panthers quickly fought back to make their lead 15-5 by the beginning of the second half. Middlebury won with a score of 9-20. The women’s team has their last game of the regular season on Wednesday before the NESCAC tournament this weekend.

Men’s Lacrosse

Men’s lacrosse also faced Middlebury on Saturday. In the first five minutes, Tanyr Krummenacher ’23 immediately scored two goals to put the team up 3-1, but the Panthers slowly bounced back to give themselves a 4-3 lead only a minute later. After Krummenacher was able to assist or score three goals the Mammoths rallied to a 9-11 deficit at the half. However, the team was unable to continue their rally as Middlebury scored the only three goals of the third quarter to carry them to a 17-11 win over the Mammoths. The men’s team also has their last game of the regular season on Wednesday before the NESCAC quarterfinal on Saturday.