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Lizzy Iuppa had two hits and scored twice for the Jumbos
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WATERVILLE, ME - The Colby College softball team put a scare into 11th-ranked Tufts University in a NESCAC East game on Friday afternoon, but the Jumbos held on and pulled away for a 5-2 win at Crafts Field.
Tufts moves to 20-3 overall and 7-0 in conference play with their ninth straight win. The Mules fall to 7-14 overall and 0-4 in the league. The two teams will play a double-header starting at noon Saturday back on Crafts Field.
Both teams received solid pitching efforts, with both throwers getting out of a few tight jams. Junior Rebecca DiBiase (Wellesley, MA) struck out 10, walked one and moved to 8-2 in tossing a complete game for Tufts. Megan Michie (Rhinebeck, NY) had eight strikeouts, no walks and allowed just two earned runs for Colby.
Tufts scored twice in the second inning after three straight singles by Jo Clair (Glastonbury, CT), Emily Beinecke (Concord, MA) and Kris Parr (Austin, TX) loaded the bases. A passed ball scored one run and the other came in on an error.
Lizzy Iuppa (Paramus, NJ) led off the third inning with a single and stole second base. With two outs, Iuppa scored on a Colby error for a 3-0 lead.
Colby fought back in the fifth inning and nearly took a 4-3 lead. Alanna Sanborn (Eliot, ME) led off with a single, moved to second on a single by Lauren Becker (Falls Church, VA) and Katie Graichen (Arundel, ME) loaded the bases when she reached on an error. Brianne Wheeler (Brussels, ONOT) hit a long ball that went off near the top of the left fiield wall with one out. Sanborn easily scored from third base, but Becker was thrown out at home after waiting to see if the ball would be caught. Instead of taking a 4-3 lead on the near-homer, Colby finished with just one run on the play. Lindsay Peterson (Fairfield, CT) followed with an RBI single to drive in Graichen to make it 3-2.
Sara Hedtler (Wrentham, MA) and Iuppa reached with singles to start the top of the seventh inning for Tufts. The Mules got the next two outs, but Beinecke smacked a two-run double for some insurance runs.
Hedtler finished with three hits and one run for the Jumbos. Beinecke drove in three runs with her two hits and Iuppa scored twice and had two hits.
Becker, Peterson, and Wheeler all had two hits for the Mules.
Game box score
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