After a streak of wins against Wesleyan and Hamilton that saw the Jeffs soar to a tie in first place in the NESCAC West, the team dropped a pair of close games away at Keene State College on April 15. While Amherst sprung to a 3-0 lead in the first game, they could not withstand a fourth-inning Owl surge that left them on the wrong side of a 4-3 scoreline, before falling 3-1 in the second game.

First-year Kaitlin Silkowitz continued her heavy hitting with an RBI-single to open the scoring in the second inning of the first game, before Reilly Horan ’13 drove in another pair with a single to center. However, the Owls hit back two innings later, with a two-run hit over the left field fence and two more runs to go up 4-3 in the fourth. It was not all bad news for the Jeffs however, as pitcher Theresa Kelley ’13 added another solid performance to her brilliant season, striking out five hitters and only allowing four earned runs on 11 hits.

Kelley also contributed to the team offensively in the second game, tying it 1-1 in the fourth with a single, before Keene State charged ahead through Kayla Joyce’s fifth home run of the season, and another run in the sixth to seal the deal. The Owls have now won four straight and 11 of their last 12, while Amherst dropped to 13-11 on the season. The game also marked the first time in 16 games that Carolyn Miller ’14 did not claim a hit, though teammates Silkowitz and Kelley had two hits apiece.

With the most crucial games of the season coming up, the Jeffs will put the doubleheader loss behind them and look ahead to their 4 p.m. clash with Smith today, and more importantly, their battle for first seed in the NESCAC West over the weekend.

“Keene is a strong team, but the losses were disappointing because we are too,” said Annemarie Iker ’12. “We didn’t play as well as we could have and we know it. But fortunately, that seems like ancient history now--we are looking forward to a doubleheader against Smith tomorrow, and to a three-game conference series against Middlebury this weekend. This is the most exciting part of the season for us, and we’re only looking forward.”