CLERMONT, Fla. --- Wellesley College softball opened the 2019 season on Friday at the Legends Way Ballfields, defeating SUNY Geneseo, 2-1, in a morning pitchers duel before falling to Trinity College (Conn.), 16-8 in an afternoon finale. The Blue are now 1-1 to start the season. 

Game 1 | Wellesley 2, Geneseo 1 | Final

Senior Sydney Hopper (Newcastle, Wash.) surrendered just one run and scattered five hits over seven innings and sophomore Gen Brittingham (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) finished 2-for-3 with a triple, RBI, and a run scored as the Blue opened the season with a 2-1 win over Geneseo. 

Brittingham put the Blue up 1-0 early, scoring first year Hayley Moniz (Westfield, Mass.) with a triple to the right centerfield gap after Moniz reached base on her first collegiate hit to lead-off the game. Hopper and the Blue carried the one-run lead into the sixth inning before adding on an insurance marker when Brittingham scored on a wild pitch. Brittingham singled with one away for her second hit of the game, moving to third on an Autumn Brown (Marshfield, Mass.) double. With junior Kalei Oliver (Vista, Calif.) at the dish, Jasmine Petrishin's (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) pitch got away and Brittingham dashed home to give the Blue a 2-0 lead.

The run would prove to be big, as Geneseo put together back-to-back hits in the top of the inning to cut the lead to 2-1. Senior Taylor Fedor (Corinth, N.Y.) singled to open the frame and scored on an RBI double from first year Taylor Riccardi (Brewster, N.Y.). Riccardi made it to third on a ground out but would be stranded after failing to score when junior Brooke Wolff (Brighton, N.Y.) singled. Hopper would go on to retire the next two batters to pick up her first win of the season and the tenth of her career.

Game 2 | Trinity 16, Wellesley 8 | Final

Four Wellesley players recorded multi-hit games but the Blue could not slow down the Trinity (Conn.) offense in a 16-8 setback to the Bantams.

Brown was 3-for-4, while Brittingham, sophomore Alyssa Hana (La Mirada, Calif.) and junior Kendall Smith (Turlock, Calif.) each finished 2-for-4, but Trinity mashed out 22 hits and scored a season-high 16 runs to improve to 6-3 on the year. 

Sophomore Hannah Zukowski (Burlington, Conn.) finished 5-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored to lead the Bantams. Trinity scored two runs in the top of the first and second innings to take a 4-0 lead. Wellesley got a pair back in the third, on a RBI knock from Brittingham and a wild pitch, but the Bantams would strike again in the top of the fifth, scoring two more runs on three hits and a Blue error to take a 6-2 advantage. 

Trinity stretched the lead to 9-2 in the top half of the sixth, with Zukowski delivering an a two-RBI single up the middle and Maura Keary (Fairfield, Conn.) bringing home a run on an RBI single. Keary finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.

The Blue got all three runs back in the home half of the inning, included one on the first career hit and RBI for first year Jill O'Shea (Moseley, Va.). However, Trinity responded with seven runs in the top of the seventh to put the game well out of reach. The Bantams collected eight runs on seven hits in the seventh to secure the 16-8 final.

Wellesley returns to Legends Way tomorrow morning, March 23, for a pair of games. The Blue will take on Colby at 9:45 AM and Wisconsin-Stout at 11:45 AM.