MEDFORD – First-year pitcher Allyson Fournier (South Windsor, CT) was perfect as the 17th ranked Tufts University softball team knocked off the Trinity College Bantams, 8-0, in six innings in NESCAC East play on Friday afternoon at Spicer Field.
Fournier retired all 18 batters she faced, striking out nine of them. She extends her unbeaten start to 9-0 and lowers her ERA to 0.61.
The Jumbo offense plated a run in all but one inning of the game with sophomore catcher Jo Clair (Glastonbury, CT) leading the way with three runs driven in. She started things off in the first inning with a two-run single. Both junior CF Lizzy Iuppa (Paramus, NJ) and senior 1B Lena Cantone (Southington, CT) had singled to setup Clair's opportunity.
In the second inning, sophomore LF Sara Hedtler (Wrentham, MA) drove in a run with a single scoring first-year RF Michelle Cooprider (Hopkinton, MA) from second base. Clair then batted in the third inning with no one on base, belting her fourth homer of the year and upping her RBI total to 25.
Senior shortstop Mira Lieman-Sifry (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY) began the fourth inning with a double and eventually moved to third on a wild pitch. With one out, Hedtler added her second RBI of the day and her fifth of the season on a bunt single.
After not scoring and stranding two runners in the fifth, the Jumbos walked off with the victory in the sixth inning with three runs on five hits. Lieman-Sifry plated the first run in a double steal attempt as Hedtler was caught in between first and second.
Iuppa and Cantone re-started the rally with back-to-back singles, and then Clair bunted her way on base. With the bases loaded, junior 2B Emily Beinecke (Concord, MA) drove home Iuppa with a single and then senior Katherine Darveau (Reading, MA) was hit by a pitch to end the game.
The Jumbos finished the game with 14 hits as both Hedtler and Clair checked in with three hits apiece to improve their batting averages to .500 and .491, respectively. Iuppa, Cantone and Beinecke each had two-hit games as well. Lieman-Sifry scored two runs for Tufts.
Senior Katherine Poulos (Wilton, CT) pitched 5.2 innings for the Bantams allowing eight runs (five earned). She struck out six and walked two batters.
Tufts is now 17-3 overall and 4-0 in NESCAC East action, while Trinity falls to 8-7 (2-2). The two clubs will play a double-header tomorrow afternoon at Spicer Field beginning at 12 pm.
Game boxscore
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