PHILADELPHIA, Pa. –
Miranda Papes sure is making the most of her final at bats as a member of the Yale softball team. Papes belted two more home runs, giving her four in her last three games, as the Bulldogs earned a thrilling 5-4 victory over Penn in the first game of an Ivy League doubleheader.
The Quakers came back to post an 8-0 win in the second game to earn a split.
Papes, who hit two homers in last weekend's series with Cornell, got Yale off to a fast start in the opener. After
Willa Ferrer singled and
Sophie Woodridge drew a walk, Papes hit a long blast over the centerfield fence to give the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead in the second inning.
The Quakers got one back in the bottom of the second, but Yale answered in the third when
Lauren Perren doubled home Ferrer in the third.
Leading 4-3 in the fourth, Papes hit her second homer of the afternoon, this one over the left-centerfield fence.
Penn pulled back within one with a run in the bottom of the fourth and threatened again in the seventh, getting runners to second and third with one out.
Maddie Latta, though, struck out Corrie Phillips and got Julia Schneider to fly out harmlessly to right field to preserve the victory.
Latta tossed a complete game, while striking out three to earn the victory in the circle.
The Bulldogs banged out 10 hits in the game.
Carolyn Skotz and Ferrer were both 2-for-4.
In the second game, Latta had a pair of singles for Yale, but Penn scored twice in the first inning and four times in the second to seize control.
The Bulldogs wore purple ribbons during the games to show their support for the James Madison softball program, which is dealing with the tragic passing of Lauren Bernett.
Yale and Penn wrap up the season by playing a single game on Saturday. The first pitch is slated for 12:30 p.m.
