Hamilton College's Claire O'Brien '21 escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning for her second career save and the Continentals held on for an 8-7 NESCAC West Division win against the Middlebury College Panthers at Hamilton's Loop Road Softball/Baseball Complex on Friday afternoon.

The Continentals (24-7, 6-4 NESCAC West) held an 8-0 lead through four innings and withstood a furious rally by Middlebury in the seventh. Hamilton, which tied a team record with its 16th triple this year, is ranked 11th in the New England Region by the NCAA.

The Panthers (11-11, 3-4) committed three infield errors that led to six unearned runs. Middlebury avoided the eight-run mercy rule by scoring two runs in the top of the fifth inning and then nearly caught the Continentals with a five-run seventh.

Hamilton's Emily Fraser '20 went 2-for-3 with a double, drove in two runs and scored three more. Fraser tied the program record with her 31st run batted in -- a mark also held by Sam Miller '14 and Janet Kiss '86. Caitlin Berreitter '20 singled and tripled, Helen Lin '19 went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in, and Kendall Searcy '20 singled twice. Starting pitcher Morgan Hartranft '22 (11-3) recorded her 11th victory as she went four-plus innings and then returned to face five batters in the seventh.

Noelle Ruschil led the Panthers' offense with three hits, including a home run, and four runs batted in. Jen McGann singled and doubled, Emily Moore collected two hits and Sophie Bolinger drove in a pair. Melanie Mandell drew three walks and Olivia Bravo singled, walked twice and was hit by a pitch. Irene Margiotta (8-7) allowed two earned runs on 11 hits and fanned three in a complete game effort.

The Continentals took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Fraser led off with a single to right center and went to second on a ground ball back to the pitcher. With two outs Liz Brautigam '19 hit a slow ground ball to Ruschil at third base. She bobbled it, threw wildly to first and allowed Fraser to come around with the first run.

Middlebury had two runners on and two outs in the third but Hartranft escaped after Berreitter caught a sharp line drive off the bat of Mandell at third base. Hamilton seized the momentum and scored a pair of runs with a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning. Ashleah Yzaguirre '19 drew a two-out walk and Fraser was hit by a pitch. Searcy and Lin followed with back-to-back, line-drive singles that drove in Yzaguirre and Fraser for a 3-0 advantage.

Searcy kept the Panthers off the scoreboard in the fourth when the shortstop went deep into the hole on the left side, made a backhand stab at a ground ball and threw out Liza Tarr at first base for the third out.

The Continentals blew things wide open with five runs in the home half of the inning. Caroline Chivily '19 reached base on a throwing error with one out and went to second on a wild pitch. Berreitter plated Chivily on a triple that sliced towards the right fielder, took one hop and skipped past her to the fence on the wet artificial grass surface. Vicky Dunn '22 laid down a bunt single with two outs and stole second. Fraser cleared the bases with a double to left center that glanced off the center fielder's glove near the fence. Searcy moved Fraser to third with a single to left, Lin drove in Fraser with an infield single, and Brautigam's single up the middle scored Searcy with the eighth run.

Hartranft, who had allowed only two hits through the first four innings, gave up a run on three straight hits to open the fifth and gave way to Molly Leitner '19. Leitner was able to get out of the jam as she allowed just one more run to score, and got the last two outs on a pop-up and a ground ball to third with the bases loaded.

Leitner received some help in the field in the sixth inning as her free pass to the leadoff batter was erased on a nifty double play turned by Searcy and Lin. Leitner allowed the first two batters to reach base in the seventh and Hartranft re-entered. She was greeted harshly by Ruschil, who blasted a three-run homer over the fence in dead center. Hartranft allowed five runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings. Middlebury eventually loaded the bases with one out and O'Brien came on to try and close it out. O'Brien forced in a run with a walk, and a sacrifice fly made it 8-7 with two outs. The next batter hammered a hard ground ball to Berreitter and she ran over and stepped on third base for the final out. The Panthers left 10 runners on base.

The teams play a doubleheader at Hamilton on Saturday, April 20 with the first pitch scheduled for noon. The Continentals will honor their seven seniors before the first game.