BRUNSWICK

Williams won the 2017 New England Small College Athletic Conference softball title with a convincing 9-1 triumph over Amherst on Sunday at Pickard Field.

Bowdoin, which served as the host for the first time in school history, finished 1-2 in the tournament, defeating Trinity and falling twice to Amherst.

In the title game, Williams put an exclamation point on their undefeated weekend. The Ephs finished 3-0 on the weekend, winning their last two games by a combined score of 17-3.

The Ephs scored in every inning en route to the championship, highlighted by a four-run second and a three-run fourth.

Up 1-0 thanks to a Mackenzie Murphy RBI single entering the second inning, Kristina Alvarado blasted a three-run home run to left field in the second frame to give Williams a 4-0 lead. Two batters later, Lexi Curt brought home Jessica Kim to make it 6-0.

After Williams padded its lead with an unearned run in the third, Amherst chipped away with a sacrifice fly by Kate Kopatic that scored Lauren Tuiskula to make it 6-1.

Williams put the game out of reach in the fourth, when Curt led off with a solo shot to deep center and Casey Pelz sliced a two-run single to right, giving the Ephs a 9- 1 advantage.

Murphy (10-4) closed out the game without incident in the top of the fifth to seal the victory for Williams. She allowed just three hits and one earned run to garner the victory. Pelz led Williams at the plate with three hits.

Lauren Tuiskula (0-2) was tagged with the loss after allowing five earned runs over 1 1/3 innings of work for Amherst.

Bowdoin

The Polar Bears opened play on Friday against Amherst, the No. 2 team from the West Division.

However, the contest lasted just two innings as rain forced the game to be suspended and later moved to Colby College’s Waterville turf field on Saturday.

From there, it was all Amherst, which rolled to a 9- 0 win thanks to a pair of four-run frames to close the contest out in six innings.

Amherst got on the board with a two-out run-scoring single by Annie Murphy, scoring Kyra Naftel, for a 1-0 lead in the fourth.

The Mammoths put the contest out of reach with four runs in both the fifth and sixth frames, with backto back run-scoring doubles by Kopatic and Alena Marovitz blowing the game open in the fifth inning.

Naftel, Marovitz and Andrea Sanders each had two hits for the Amherst offense, while Gina Pagan picked up the win, allowing just two hits over six innings and striking out three.

Allie Rutz and Claire McCarthy had the lone hits for Bowdoin — both coming in Friday’s portion of the game, while Katie Hoadley took the loss with 4 2/3 innings of work, allowing four earned runs.

In Bowdoin’s second game on Saturday in Waterville, the Polar Bears eliminated East rival Trinity, 9-3.

Bowdoin got things going with four runs in the second inning as the Polar Bears loaded the bases with one out. Jordan Gowdy singled to give Bowdoin the lead and Ali Miller ripped a bases-clearing triple to right, scoring three runs to give the Polar Bears a 4-0 edge.

The Polar Bears added to their lead with an Rutz run-scoring double in the third and a two-run triple by Marisa O’Toole in the fourth to make it 7-0.

A two-run single by Nicole Towner in the fifth trimmed Bowdoin’s lead to 7-2, but a two-run homer by McCarthy put the game out of reach in the seventh.

Rutz finished 3-for-4 to lead the Bowdoin attack, while Emily Griffin earned the win with a complete game effort, allowing three earned runs and striking out six.

Back in Brunswick on Sunday, Bowdoin and Amherst met in an elimination game.

Down 1-0, Amherst scored three unearned runs in the sixth inning to come back to defeat Bowdoin, 3-1.

The Polar Bears got on the board first in the top of the third inning as Miller came home on a run-scoring single from Caroline Rice.

Bowdoin had multiple chances to add to its lead, including in the fourth when Miller singled to right field with runners on first and second. Amherst right fielder Andrea Sanders cut down Lauren O’Shea at the plate, preserving the one-run deficit.

Amherst’s game-winning rally came with two outs as, with runners on first and second, Marovitz reached on an error to load the bases. The very next batter — Sanders — ripped a liner to the gap in right-center field, clearing the bases and giving Amherst the 3-1 lead.

Bowdoin went down 1-2-3 in the seventh as pitcher Pagan (17-4) finished off the complete game victory, scattering eight hits and ending with five strikeouts. Sanders and Naftel had two hits each for the Mammoths.

Griffin (13-4) took the tough-luck loss, permitting six hits and no earned runs over six frames with three strikeouts. She also had two hits in the game along with Miller and O’Shea.