HARTFORD - First year Kayla Holland (Attleborough, MA) picked up an rbi single in the 13th inning as the Tufts University Jumbos edged the Trinity College Bantams, 5-4, in NESCAC East Division softball action this afternoon on Campus Field.
The Jumbos improve to 20-15 overall and 7-2 in the league, while the Bantams drop to 19-10 overall and 7-3 in the league. The Jumbos, Bantams and Bowdoin College (7-4) are vying for the East's two spots in the upcoming NESCAC Championship. The first place team in the East will host the tournament.
With Trinity trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Bantam sophomore Caroline Blanchard (Norwich, CT) delivered a game-tying rbi single for the Bantams, forcing extra innings.
With two outs in the bottom of the 12th, Tufts junior Lena Cantone (Southington, CT) hit an rbi single to give the Jumbos a 4-3 lead. Trinity answered in the bottom half of the inning as senior co-captain Katherine Stoltenberg (Montgomery, NJ) scored on a dropped infield pop-up that would have been the game-ending out.
Tufts got the run right back in the top of the 13th on an rbi single by Holland. Sophomore Rebecca DiBiase (Wellesley, MA) set the Trinity offense down in order in the bottom of the 13th, closing out 6.1 strong innings of relief on the mound for the Jumbos. She picked up a crucial relief strikeout to end a Trinity threat back in the seventh.
Tufts got out to a 3-0 lead in the first, highlighted by a two-run home run by first-year Jo Clair (Glastonbury, CT), her league leading 16th of the season. Trinity scored two runs in the bottom of the first, but the bats on both sides calmed after that, until the bottom of seventh, when Trinity tied the game.
Trinity senior Kristen Anderson (West Haven, CT) picks up the tough-luck loss, just her third of the season, going all 13 innings on the hill for the Bantams, and allowing just three earned runs. DiBiase improves to 5-8 on the year. Trinity senior Nicole Nardella (Beverly, MA) and Tufts junior Mira Lieman-Sifry (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY) notched three hits apiece in the game.
The Jumbos, who have a NESCAC East Division make-up game with Colby on Sunday, need two more wins to clinch the pennant. One win in tomorrow's pair with Trinity would secure a spot at the conference championship for the Jumbos.
Game Box Score
#
Game release courtesy of Trinity College
