Box Score MEDFORD - Allyson Fournier and Erica County both pitched shutouts as the Tufts Softball team swept a double-header over Rhode Island College at Spicer Field on Thursday, 19-0 and 5-0. The victories give Tufts a 35-game winning streak, matching the program's longest.
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| Sophomore Marly Becker clubbed a three-run, pinch-hit home run in the first game |
Tufts improved to 33-0 on the season. The Jumbos won their last two games of 2014 against Salisbury to capture their second straight NCAA Championship. The 35 in a row matches a streak put together by the 2009 Tufts team.
Fournier pitched her 12th shutout of the season in the five-inning first game, striking out 13 and walking one. RIC sophomore 3B Mary Sweeney broke up her no-hit bid with a solid single to left with two outs in the fifth. Fournier improved to 19-0 with the win.
The Jumbo bats exploded for nine runs in the third inning and eight more in the fourth. Tufts finished with 18 hits. Senior catcher Raven Fournier's three-run double capped the third when the Jumbos sent 13 hitters to the plate. Sophomore Marly Becker hit a three-run home run and first-year Sarah Finnigan smacked a two-run bomb in the fourth, both as pinch hitters.
Everyone who played in the game either had a hit or scored a run for the Jumbos. Raven Fournier went 2 for 3 with three rbis and a run, sophomore 1B Cassie Ruscz finished 1 for 2 with two rbis and two runs, senior RF Gracie Marshall scored three runs and sophomore LF Carrie Copacino had a 3 for 3 day with a run at the top of the order.
Three Rhode Island College errors in game two cost them as all five Jumbo runs against sophomore starter Lauren DiScuillo were unearned. Meanwhile, County improved to 13-0 in the circle going seven innings allowing five hits with a season-high eight strikeouts and a walk.
Tufts scored four of their runs in the second inning. Senior 2B Christina Raso singled and scored and Copacino hit an rbi triple and scored in the middle of it. The Jumbos added another in the fifth when Ruscz led off with a walk and eventually scored on an error.
The Anchorwomen were able to get runners into scoring position against County. A single by senior SS Katelyn Sykora and a walk put runners on first and second with one out in the first, but County recorded a strikeout and a ground out to end the threat. The same scenario took place in the third with the help of a single by DiScuillo, but County again got a strikeout and a ground out. RIC left four runners in scoring position and seven on base overall.
Raso was the only player in the Tufts line-up with more than one hit in game two, finishing 2 for 3 with a run and an rbi.
DiScuillo also had a single in the fifth for a 2 for 3 day at the plate. In the circle she went six allowing six hits and five unearned runs with four walks and a strikeout.
The Jumbos host a NESCAC East series against Colby at Spicer this weekend starting with a single game on Friday at 4. The Anchorwomen play a Little East Conference pair at Keene State on Saturday at 1.
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