Box Score BANGOR, Maine – For the second time this weekend at the NCAA Regional, the Tufts softball team rallied to win late as the Jumbos earned a dramatic 2-1 victory over Eastern Connecticut on Sunday.
Tufts (20-5) now faces host Husson University for the Regional championship. The Jumbos need to win once, while the Eagles need two victories. The first game will start at 2:15 pm on Sunday with the if-necessary game to follow.
Down 1-0 against Eastern, the Jumbos scored runs in the sixth and seventh innings to win. They had scored twice in the top of the seventh to defeat Babson 2-1 in their NCAA opener on Friday.
Tufts tied Eastern 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth when Nicole Russo was hit by a pitch and went to second on a passed ball. On a 3-2 pitch with two outs, Casey Maggiore lined a single to left scoring Russo. Reegan Coleman followed with a single putting pinch-runner and go-ahead run Vanessa Venkataraman on second, but Warriors pitcher Carley Stoker got a fly ball to end the frame.
In the Tufts seventh, Michelle Adelman hit a ball to the bag at third and the throw was off-line allowing the Jumbo to advance to second with one out. After the second out was made, Tufts' Josie Steinberg hit a fly ball to left that was dropped and Adelman scored for a 2-1 Tufts advantage.
The bottom of the seventh would be filled with drama. Eastern's Cassie Woods singled up middle to lead off and took second on a ground out. At that point the game went into a weather delay that lasted over an hour.
When play resumed, the wind was whipping at Husson's O'Keefe Field. Eastern's Brooke Matyasovsky hit a grounder to short that Mia Steinberg fielded and faked her throw. That caught Woods off second and a run-down ensued. On a play at third, Woods was ruled out due to runner interference. Jumbo reliever Kristi Van Meter then got a called third strike giving Tufts the win.
Starters Kristina Haghdan for Tufts and Matyasovsky for Eastern threw up zeroes through three and a half.
The Warriors broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth. Alyssa Vilchez led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second. With one out, Megan Hodgon singled hard up the middle and Vilchez was held at third. Then with two outs, Woods doubled to left scoring Vilchez for a 1-0 Warriors lead. Tufts went to Van Meter at this point, and Jumbo Kat Yuzefpolsky made a nice running catch in the left-field corner on Tyrrell for the third out to keep it a 1-0 game.
Both teams had threatened in the second, but more so Eastern Connecticut who had the bases loaded with one out. Hodgdon hit a hard grounder to short that Jumbo senior Mia Steinberg dove right to field. She then threw from her knees to get a force-out at home. Haghdan then struck out Laura Zenk to end the inning.
In addition to her savvy defense, Mia Steinberg also had two of Tufts' five hits in the game. Van Meter got the win in relief, going 3.1 innings allowing just one hit and no runs with five K's and a walk. Haghdan, who started for the third straight game at the Regional, went 3.2 innings giving up five hits and one run.
Woods and Tyrrell both had two hits for the Warriors, whose season ended with a 32-4 record. Stoker took the loss for Eastern, becoming the third straight pitcher at the Regional to whom Tufts would hand a first defeat of the year. She gave up two hits and one earned run while falling to 17-1 overall. Matyasovsky went four allowing three hits and no runs.
