The softball teams swept a three-game series at Hamilton over the weekend to finish 9-3 in NESCAC West play and win its second straight division title. Meaghan Dendy ’10 hurled a four-hit shutout for a 2-0 win in the series opener Friday afternoon, and the Cardinals swept the Saturday doubleheader by a combined 18-5 score. Wesleyan also secured a piece of the Little Three title thanks to Williams’ doubleheader sweep of Amherst the same day.

Wesleyan needed to take two out of three against the Continentals to clinch the division title, and the clinching game was the most lopsided of the series, a 10-1 Cardinal victory in the opener of Saturday’s twinbill. Wesleyan jumped on the board in the first with four runs and added two more in the second and another pair in the fourth for an 8-0 cushion. The Cardinals’ lead grew to 10-0 in the fifth, and though Hamilton scored once in the bottom of the inning, the game ended after five due to the eight-run mercy rule.

Working with a substantial cushion, Chelsea Swete ’11 was solid on the mound, limiting the Continentals to a single run and scattering six hits while not surrendering a walk. Swete escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first unscathed and stranded seven Hamilton baserunners in the contest.

Wesleyan also cruised to an 8-4 win in the nightcap. Hamilton jumped on the board with a pair of runs in the first, but the Cardinals took the lead for good with a three-run third and two more runs in the fourth, all unearned. Hamilton cut the lead to 5-3 in the fifth, but Wesleyan added two more in the sixth and another in the seventh (after Hamilton had scored once in the bottom of the sixth) for the 8-4 final.

Dendy went the distance on the mound, striking out six for her second-complete game victory of the series. She also went 4-for-5 with three runs in the contest. Co-captain Molly O’Connell ’09 went 3-for-5 and also crossed the plate three times, while Talia Bernstein ’11 went 7-for-8 and drove in nine of the Cardinals’ 18 runs in the doubleheader. Bernstein was named NESCAC Player of the Week on Monday.

Dendy had tossed a four-hit shutout in the opening game of the series, striking out five and surrendering no walks. She also led off the contest with her second home run of the season to give Wesleyan all the run support it would need. Wesleyan added another run in the third when Sam Epstein ’12 was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two out.

Wesleyan improved to 17-7 all-time against Hamilton and ran its winning streak against the Continentals to ten games with the sweep. Despite Wesleyan’s recent success against the Continentals, however, Dendy noted that the Cardinals did not take their opponent lightly.

“Our most important goal was to get into the NESCAC tournament,” Dendy said. “Sweeping any team in a three-game series is very hard and we didn’t want to go into the series over-confident by expecting to take all three games.”

In addition, Wesleyan clinched a share of the Little Three title following its outright title in 2008 when Williams swept its doubleheader against Amherst Saturday afternoon. However, the Cardinals did not worry about the Little Three implications during their doubleheader, focusing instead on events they could control.

“The Amherst-Williams games were definitely in the back of our minds, but no one mentioned those games until after we had won our last game on Saturday,” Dendy said. “I think that is a testament to how focused the team was. No matter what happened in that series, we still had a job to do.”

The sweep moved Wesleyan back into the win column following a doubleheader sweep at the hands of Brandeis the previous Saturday. Brandeis scored three in the bottom of the seventh for a 4-3 win in the first game and held the Cardinals to three hits in a 1-0 victory in the nightcap.

The Cardinals continued their winning ways on Monday with a 4-1 home victory over Trinity. Dendy one-hit the Bantams for her tenth win of the year, allowing only one unearned run in the fifth. She also reached in all three plate appearances and scored twice to lead the Wesleyan offense.

Wesleyan travels to Coast Guard for a make-up game before opening NESCAC tournament play against Bates on Friday afternoon at Tufts.