The Middlebury softball team dropped the opening game of a NESCAC West doubleheader at Amherst on Saturday, while the second game was suspended due to darkness and will be resumed at a later date. The Panthers were leading 9-6 after five innings in the nightcap after dropping the opener 7-4. The Panthers (5-5, 0-2) will open the home portion of their schedule with a doubleheader on Wednesday against Union (N.Y.) beginning at 3:30 p.m., while Amherst (11-4, 2-0) hosts Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on the same day.

In Saturday's opening game, the Panthers started quickly when lead-off batter Jackie Stern doubled and later scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Sarah Freyre.

Amherst came back in its half of the inning with a pair of runs, the first coming on a RBI single by Brianna Cook and Alena Marovitz raced home on a wild pitch to account for the second.

Middlebury tied the game at 2-2 during its next at bat, when Erin Giles reached on an error and eventually scored on a ground out by Emma Hamilton.

The Purple & White got the run back in the bottom of the inning, retaking the lead at 3-2.

In the fourth inning, Amherst erupted scoring four runs keyed by Marovitz's three-run double and extended the lead to 7-2.

The Panthers got two runs back in the fifth as Hamilton and Ali Della Volpe each singled and scored on a two-base hit by Kat Maehr, but were unable to get any closer in their final two chances.

Maehr was 1-3 with two RBI for Middlebury, while Stern and Hye-Jin Kim each added doubles. Allison Quigley (2-1) suffered the loss for the Panthers, going three innings and allowing five runs, while Neve Stearns yielded one earned run in three innings of relief.

Sammy Salustri paced the Purple & White at the plate, going 3-4 with three runs scored, while Marovitz was 2-4 with three RBI. Lorena Ukanwa hurled five innings to pick up the victory, giving up four runs on four hits.

The Panther bats came alive in the second game, breaking open a scoreless game in the second with five runs. Carlyn Vachow touched home plate for the first run on a base hit by Taylor Gardner, while Stern made it 2-0 with a run-scoring single. Kati Daczkowski and Kim came around to score on a base knock by Hamilton for a 4-0 lead, while the final run in the inning came on a fielder's choice by Siobhan O'Sullivan scoring Stern.

After Amherst got two runs back in the last of the second, Hamilton came up with another key hit for Middlebury, plating Kim with a single to make it 6-2.

Marovitz touched home plate in the bottom of the third to make it a three-run difference, but Gardner had a big response for the Panthers in the fourth with a base-clearing double that brought home three runs. Gardner's hit pushed the Middlebury lead to 9-3.

The hosts made a late push with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, but the Panthers got out of the inning with the game being suspended before the start of the sixth.

Irene Margiotta tossed the first five innings, allowing six runs on 11 hits. Hamilton had a big game for the Panthers at the plate going 3-3 with three RBI, while Stern also finished with three hits. Gardner added to the win with two hits and a game-high four RBI.

Murphy, Marovita, Apffel, Turner and Kyra Naftel each had two hits for Amherst, while Lauren Tuiskula took the loss in the circle, yielding five runs in 1.1 innings.