It’s always great to end on a high note.

Yale softball (20-25-1, 7-13 Ivy) put together a strong finish to their season, winning three of four games against Brown (8-26, 3-17). The Elis split Saturday’s doubleheader in Providence, losing the first game 2-1 but bouncing back with a 6-3 victory in the second. Yale then swept Sunday’s games in New Haven, winning both 3-1.

“This weekend definitely showed our perseverance and our ability to come back from a tough season,” captain Aracelis Torres ’08 said. “Even though we didn’t qualify for Ivy Champs, we still played out these games as we would have otherwise, and it was really great to go out on such a high note.”

Despite the strong ending, Yale actually had a bit of a rough start to the weekend, losing a tight first game on Saturday. The game was scoreless until the top of the fifth inning, when the Bulldogs scored their first and only run of the day. Courtney Blachford ’08 hit a huge triple and was batted in by a single from Ashley Sloan ’10.

Yale held onto the small lead for a while, but the Bears came through with two runs in the bottom of the sixth. With a string of hits, Brown gained a 2-1 lead, which then became a victory when the Bulldogs could not score the tying run in the top of the seventh.

“It was a bit of a tough loss because we didn’t capitalize on the opportunities we had,” Torres explained. “But we used that to bounce back, and we swept the following three games.”

The Bulldogs came back big in Saturday’s second game with a 6-3 win. Brown scored the first run in the first inning, but Yale notched two in the third. After Sloan singled and moved to third off a double from Katie Yanagisawa ’11, Torres hit a clutch double that scored both her teammates — building a lead the Elis held for the rest of the game.

Torres led the team with __ RBI on the season.

The fifth inning was a big one for the Bulldogs as they scored three more runs through a series of hits that got them on base and in scoring position. Brown scored one run each in the fifth and sixth innings, which got them closer at 5-3, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Yale’s lead. In the seventh inning, the Bulldogs clinched their win with one more run. Megan Enyeart ’09 hit a big double and scored off an RBI double from Megan Boon ’11.

Sunday was a highlight for Yale softball as the team swept the Bears in its last doubleheader. The first game was scoreless until the fourth inning, when the Bulldogs came through with three runs off a string of consistent hitting and smart offensive strategy. The Elis could have scored more — they left the bases loaded when the inning ended — but the three runs were enough to secure their victory. Brown scored a single run in the fifth, but Yale defense held off the Bears for the rest of the game.

“Everything was working great for us [on Sunday],” Katie Edwards ’09 said. “Pitches were moving, defense was behind us, and our players were hitting — it was exactly how a game is supposed to go.”

The Bulldogs took that momentum into the surprisingly similar second game.

Yale again scored all three runs in one big inning, this time in the third. Blachford started with a single, and moved to third off Sloan’s sacrifice bunt and a ground out from Yanagisawa. Torres’ single batted in Blachford for the first run of the game, and Mariclaire Rebman ’11 moved on base with another single. Then Torres and Rebman scored the second and third runs off a clutch double from Enyeart.

Brown scored one run in the following inning, but Yale pitching and defense continued to hold them off. Deanna DiBernardi ’09 allowed only two hits in the first four innings and KR Ling ’10 allowed only four hits and no runs in the last three.

“It was a really great weekend and the team really pulled together to end on a high note,” Blachford said. “It was a tough season, but we ended on the up — everyone was playing really well.”

Yale softball closed their season third in the North Division and sixth in the Ivy League.