Around the Herd: April 17 to April 23 in Athletics

Baseball

Over the past weekend, the Amherst baseball team went to Vermont for three games against NESCAC rival, Middlebury College.  

The Mammoths fell early in the first game, giving up a run in the first inning. Jack Sampedro ’25’s RBI-single down right field answered the score in the third, but the Panthers struck right back to make the score 2-1 at the top of the sixth. From then on, the Mammoths didn’t let them score again, scoring three unanswered runs in the seventh and eight innings, with one of them coming from yet another Sampedro RBI. Amherst won 4-2 for Coach J.P. Pyne’s 300th career victory.

The next two games on Saturday, however, did not pan out as well. In both, the undisciplined Mammoths allowed early runs in the first three innings, and were simply unable to catch up. They lost 1-2 and 4-8,  falling to 18-8 on the season.

They will face Williams College this upcoming weekend.

Softball

The softball team played in two double headers this week against the Hamilton College Continentals and the Williams College Ephs.

Saturday’s two games against the Continentals were close, but unfortunately, the Mammoths were unable to pull out a win in either game. In the first match, Hamilton immediately scored two runs in the first inning, but Amherst was able to respond with two runs of their own in the fourth inning, highlighted by Anna Primozic’s ’27 sacrificial bunt to bring Dani Torres Wera ’25 home. The scoring was short lived, however, as the Continentals scored three more runs and the Amherst offense completely stagnated. The game ended with a score of 5-2. The second game began in a similar fashion — this time the Continentals scored four runs in the first inning. Again, the Mammoths were able to slowly fight back to tie the game by the top of the sixth, with Torres Wera and Olivia Atkin ’26 recording RBIs in the process, only for them to immediately allow Hamilton to score two runs in the bottom of the sixth to claim their victory.

Their two matches against Williams proved to be even more difficult. The Ephs dominated, scoring ten total runs while the Mammoths were shut out in the first game and only scored one run in the second. Randi Finklestein ’24 recorded the only RBI of the day when she brought home Annaliese Knop ’27 with a grounder towards center field.

The team fell to 7-22 and will seek to turn their season around against Middlebury this weekend.

Women’s Tennis

The women’s tennis team faced Williams and Middlebury on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

The No. 8 seeded Williams were heavily favored against the Mammoths. Nevertheless, Amherst came out swinging, sweeping the doubles matchups to give them a 3-0 lead before singles. Then, splitting the singles ladder, the Mammoths were able to upset their rivals in a 6-3 victory.

Middlebury, although more evenly matched in seeding, completely took over almost every match. Only Amherst’s Lily Douchis ’27 was able to win her game in three sets. The 8-1 loss brought the team’s record to 10-5 on the season.

The team will face Bates and Tufts this weekend.

Men’s Tennis

This past weekend, Amherst’s men’s tennis played against NESCAC rivals Williams and Middlebury. Against

In a tight matchup against the Ephs, Amherst struck first taking a 2-1 lead after the doubles rounds. But, only Kobe Ellenbogen ’25 and Ethan Ohm ’27 won their matchups in two quick sets. The rest of the ladder losing meant Williams claimed the victory, 4-5.

Against Middlebury, the score was not close, and not in the way the Mammoths would have hoped. The Panthers won every single matchup, only allowing two of them to go three sets. They lost 0-9.

The two losses knocked Amherst’s record from 11-4 to 11-2.

Women’s Track and Field

The women’s track and field team participated in the Collier Invitational this past weekend.

Anaya Thomas ’25 placed second in the triple jump with a mark of 11.45m which qualified her for a top DIII triple jump finish. Myeh Medina ’26’s 11.41m mark finished right behind her to put her in third place in the meet and also made her a top DIII finisher. Emma Ramsingh ’27 threw 41.33m to finish fifth in the discus throw.

NESCAC Championships will begin next weekend.

Men’s Track and Field

On Saturday, the men’s track and field team went to MIT to compete in the Collier Invitational.

Aidan Gemme ’26 earned his first ever collegiate win, running 4:01.91 for a personal best in the event as well.

His classmate, Noah Kanahele Harris ’26, ran both the 110m hurdles and the 400m hurdles, finishing second in both of them, with times of 15.72 and 57.07, respectively. The 400m time was a personal best, making it a career day for Harris.

In the 100m, Alexander Nichols ’26 finished second in a personal record 10.76 seconds.

The team will participate in the NESCAC championships next weekend.

Lacrosse

On Saturday, the lacrosse team faced Tufts in a high-scoring matchup.

The Mammoths immediately fell down three scores, but rallied back to tie the game by the end of the first quarter. A minute into the second quarter, Alex Giaccobe ’25 rang in his 31st goal of the season to earn Amherst’s first lead of the game. The team went on to score six goals in the quarter, making it 9-6 at the half. Although Tufts was able to come back from the deficit, scoring four goals to Amherst’s one, Bob Gross ’24 was able to retain the lead by the end of the third quarter with a quick goal. The Jumbos relentlessly attacked again and again during the fourth quarter, finally forcing two goals to claim a comfortable lead. Still, tireless efforts by Gross and Brendan Reilly ’27 refused to let the Jumbos trample over them. Their two goals tied the game up at 13 with five minutes left. Tragically, Tufts found the net with two minutes left, securing a 14-13 loss for the Mammoths.

Amherst is now 9-5 on the season as they take on the NESCAC tournament this weekend.