The Cardinal softball team finished the season as runner-up in the NESCAC Championship for the second consecutive year, taking down Bates and Williams but falling twice to Tufts, which won its third straight NESCAC title and sixth overall. Wesleyan finished the season 17-20 overall but won its second straight NESCAC West title with a 9-3 divisional record.

The Cardinals opened tournament play on Friday afternoon against Bates, an team that Wesleyan had beat in seven of its past eight games. The Bobcats jumped on the board first with three runs in the opening frame, but Wesleyan tied it in the second and went ahead for good in the third. Following a single by Talia Bernstein ’11 to lead off the second, Alexis Kral ’12 walked before a bunt by Chrissy Bello ’12 loaded the bases. Sam Epstein ’12 then ripped a double to left, clearing the bases and tying the game.

Wesleyan capitalized on a Bates error to go ahead in the third. Following a bases-loaded walk to Epstein that moved Wesleyan ahead 4-3, co-captain Julia Chamberlin ’09 hit a grounder to the Bates shortstop, whose wild throw scored Bello and Kral.

Bates got one back in the top of the fifth, but Wesleyan put the game away with six runs in the bottom of the frame. With the Cardinals up 11-4, Epstein hit a walk-off single through the left side, scoring Bernstein and giving her five RBI on the afternoon.

Wesleyan advanced to play host Tufts in the winners’ bracket on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals proved to be no match for the 36-1 Jumbos, who rolled to a 6-1 victory. Wesleyan rebounded, however, with a 7-6 win over Williams in an elimination game. Wesleyan jumped on the board with three in the second inning. Bernstein began the inning with a single, and following a sacrifice bunt by Kral and walk to Bello, Epstein cranked a three-run shot down the left-field line, giving Wesleyan a 3-0 lead and driving in her eighth run of the series. 

Williams scored twice in the top of the third, but Wesleyan added four more in the bottom of the inning. Following a two-run single by Bernstein, Kral walked and Bello was hit, loading the bases for Epstein, who worked another walk for her ninth RBI of the series. An infield single by Anu Rimal ’11 plated the Cardinals’ fourth run.

Williams did not back down, however, plating one runner in the fourth and three in the sixth to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 7-6. With runners on the corners, however, Meaghan Dendy ’10 induced a groundout to end the Williams threat. Following a leadoff double in the seventh, Rimal came on and retired the next three Ephs for the save.

With the win, Wesleyan ended the Ephs’ season for the second straight season; Wesleyan had defeated the Ephs 13-3 in an elimination game in the 2008 tournament. The Cardinals have also won six of their last eight games against their Little Three rival after entering 2008 just 2-44 all-time against Williams.

Wesleyan scored twice in the first in the rematch against Tufts on Sunday morning. With one out, co-captain Molly O’Connell ’09 and Kral walked to bring up Bernstein, who doubled to left-center to score Kral. Epstein reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners on first and second, and both moved up on a wild pitch. A single by Bello plated Bernstein and made it 2-0, but Wesleyan did not score again in the contest. Tufts halved the deficit in the bottom of the inning and moved ahead 3-2 in the second; the Jumbos added three in the third and one each in the fifth and sixth for the 8-2 final.

Bernstein finished the season with a .482 average, recording 55 hits to break Marcia Whitehead’s ’08 record of 51, which was set last season. She also finished with the third-highest average ever by a Wesleyan softball player, including the top mark for a player with 100 or more at-bats. She has also reached 106 career hits, becoming the first sophomore to crack triple digits and vaulting into seventh on the all-time hit list.

Dendy recorded 46 hits during the season to bring her career total to 137, tying her for second on the all-time list with Becca Feiden ’08. She also finished with a 12-8 record on the mound, bringing her career record to 30-19 and breaking a pair of Wesleyan records in the process. The 30 career wins eclipsed the previous mark of 28, set by Vicky Chen ’99, and the 12 victories this season eclipsed her own record of 11 set in 2008.

Wesleyan will return five of its top six hitters next year, including Dendy (.365), Bello (.365), Kral (.321) and Zavadsky. While the losses of O’Connell and Chamberlin will certainly be felt, the Cardinals look primed to bring home a third straight NESCAC title and soar to new heights in 2010.