Around the Herd: April 24 to April 30 in Athletics

Baseball

Over the past weekend, the baseball team faced their NESCAC rival, Williams College, in three consecutive matches.

The first game took place in Williamstown on Friday afternoon. The Mammoths needed no time to warm up, as they quickly took a 3-0 lead after Ryan McIntryre ’25, Jack Sampedro ’25, and Luke Padian ’24 each struck RBI-doubles in the top of the first inning. Then, after quickly shutting out the Ephs on the defensive end, the Mammoths only added to their lead, scoring four runs, including a stunning two-run triple by Jack McDermott ’25. Although Williams replied with a single run in the third inning, Amherst only continued their rampage, winning 14-6 to end the evening.

The Mammoths returned to Memorial Field on the following day to celebrate Senior Day and to compete in another two rounds against Williams. The first began in the same way as the last. The team quickly took a three run lead after two innings, then allowed the Ephs to score a run at the top of the fifth, only for the Mammoths to respond with a beautiful sequence of eleven consecutive runs. After creating a 14-1 lead, the two teams traded four runs each, and the mercy rule was triggered by the seventh inning to award the team and its ten graduating seniors another victory against Williams.

Williams could not catch a break in their third match either. Without haste, the Mammoths scored five runs in two innings, highlighted by Padian’s two-run single. The Ephs found themselves back in it after recording three runs in the sixth, but the Mammoth defense managed to hold them off from scoring further. The game ended with another dominating 10-3 score, sweeping the Williams baseball team.

With a record of 23-8, this has held the most wins in a season under Coach J.P. Pyne. The Mammoths will face Bowdoin College this upcoming weekend in a three game series for the beginning of the NESCAC tournament.

Softball

The Amherst softball team faced Middlebury College in a doubleheader over the weekend. Unfortunately, the team’s struggles continued, as they lost in both matches.

The first game seemed pretty close to start. By the end of the third inning, after Randi Finklestein ’24 was hit by a pitch to force Sadie Pool ’24 home, the score was 3-1 in favor of the Panthers. This was until Middlebury abruptly ended the game by exploding for six consecutive runs in the fifth inning, triggering the mercy rule.

Although the Panthers took an early lead at the top of the second game’s third inning, the Mammoths adequately responded with four runs of their own. Finklestein hit a three-run triple while Pool hit a single to bring Finkelstein home. Amherst scored another run in the fourth, however, their defensive woes followed. The score was 5-3 at the top of the seventh, but the defense allowed three runs, granting the Panthers the 6-5 victory, after the offense was unable to respond.

The team will play Colby College in two games this Saturday.

Men’s Track and Field

The men’s track and field team competed in the NESCAC Championships over the weekend. It took place at Tufts University.

Alton Machen ’24 broke the 23-year-old record in the 110m hurdles, finishing third with a time of 15.05 seconds. Jordan Harrison ’26 won the 100m dash in 10.66 seconds, making it two consecutive wins in the 100m NESCAC championship for the emerging sophomore. Michael Abbey Jr. ’27 won the triple jump in his debut with a season best mark of 14.28m. In his first season running the steeplechase, Ian Dopp ’24 was the runner-up in his championship debut, running a 9:10.28 in the event.

The team’s excellent placements across all events earned them a second place finish in the competition. The Mammoths will compete in the New England DIII Championships this weekend.

Women’s Track and Field

At Tufts during the past weekend, the women’s track and field team participated in the NESCAC Championships.

For the first time in 21 years, an Amherst 4x800m relay team took home first place in the Championships. The relay featured Piper Lentz ’26, Zoë Marcus ’27, Ava Zielinski ’25 and Bella Lozier ’26. They finished in 9:15.40. In her debut, Emma Ramsingh ’27 won the discus throw with a mark of 45.43m to break the school record for a third time this season. Myeh Medina ’26 finished in second place in the 400m hurdles with a personal-best time of 1:03.13.

Stellar finishes across the board earned Amherst second place in the Championships. The team will now face the region in the New England DIII Championships.

Men’s Tennis

The men’s tennis team played both Bates College and Tufts University this past weekend.

The Mammoths dominated the Bobcats in the matchup, completely sweeping the singles ladder without losing a single set. The match ended with a score of 8-1. On Sunday, against Tufts, however, only Rex Harrison ’27 was able to pull out a victory, allowing the Jumbos to ease through with a 8-1 victory over the Mammoths.

Amherst’s men’s tennis team will face Bowdoin in the first game of the NESCAC tournament this weekend.

Women’s Tennis

The women’s tennis team finished their season strongly, winning against both Bates and Tufts over the weekend.

Amherst didn’t allow Bates to win a single matchup throughout both the singles and doubles ladders, sweeping the Bobcats 9-0. Their day against Tufts proved to be much more difficult. The team took a 2-1 lead in the doubles matches, but lost the bottom three singles matches. Nevertheless, the top of the ladder clutched the victory, losing no more than six games in each matchup, and not a single set. The score ended with a tally of 5-4, ending their regular season with a record of 12-5.

This upcoming weekend, the team will face Bowdoin’s Polar Bears to begin the NESCAC tournament.

Men’s Lacrosse

The men’s lacrosse team’s stellar season ended in tragic fashion on Saturday, as they fell to Middlebury in the opening game of their NESCAC tournament.

Although the Mammoths quickly responded to the Panthers’ immediate three goal outburst with three scores of their own, Middlebury was only able to extend their lead to 7-4 by halftime — the Amherst defense was unable to keep up. Still, in the third period, the Mammoths rejuvenated themselves, completely shutting out Middlebury’s offense and even scoring a goal of their own. But after the Panthers scored two goals of their own to begin the fourth quarter, the Amherst offense was unable to claw back in the remaining eight minutes.

They lost 9-6 to end their season with a 10-6 record.