Box Score 1 
WILLIAMSTOWN – Senior Kristina Haghdan pitched a two-hit shutout in game one and junior Nicole Russo went 3 for 3 with two home runs, four rbis and three runs scored in the second contest as the Tufts University softball team won the 2021 NESCAC Championship with 10-0 (5 innings) and 7-2 victories at Williams College today.
Head coach Lauren Ebstein's Jumbos (17-3) are conference champions for the second straight time after winning in 2019. The Jumbos now have 12 NESCAC titles overall, twice as many as the next-most in the league. The losses were the first of the year for Williams (12-2), who was playing in their 12th conference final.
The last two conference softball championships featured eight teams, but in lieu of that this year division champions Tufts and Williams went head-to-head in a best two-out-of-three series to determine the 2021 champion.
Starting off the series, Haghdan had one of the best outings of her career in game one. She finished with 11 K's and no walks. The Jumbos scored five times in the third inning including four unearned as they went on to secure the victory in five innings.
In the bottom of the second, back-to-back singles by Ephs Gabi Cirigliano and Bailey Burger-Moore and then a wild pitch gave the hosts runners on second and third. However, Haghdan struck out the next two hitters to end the inning. That was Williams' only threat against her.
In the next half-inning, the Jumbos scored their handful on two hits, two Eph errors and two walks. Rachel Moore and Emma Della Volpe led off the inning with a base hit and a walk, respectively, and both scored. Casey Maggiore hit a two-run single to cap the inning.
After singles by Moore and Della Volpe led off the fourth, sophomore CF Michelle Adelman hit a three-run home run to left-center and it was 8-0 Jumbos. They scored their final two runs in the fifth when Reegan Coleman walked, Della Volpe (2 for 2, 3 runs) singled again and Josie Steinberg hit a two-run double.
A Jumbo error put a Williams runner on base to start the fifth, but Haghdan completed her gem with two strike outs and a grounder back at her. She improved to 6-2 and lowered her era to a 1.13 mark.
Four of Tufts' 10 hits and five of their runs came from the bottom two spots of the order with Moore (2 for 3, 2 runs) and Della Volpe. Steinberg and Adelman both drove in three runs.
Tufts gave Williams starter Kirstin Mapes (4 IP, 7 H, 4 ER) her first loss (7-1).
The Jumbos, playing as the home team in game two, started big with four runs in the first including a three-run home run by Maggiore. The Ephs answered with one in the second off Tufts starter Sophia DiCocco. Dacia Green led off with a single and scored on a base hit by Rachel Neugart.
Tufts went big fly again in the third as Russo hit her first for two more runs and a 6-1 margin. DiCocco dealt well with multiple base runners each inning through the fourth, though she surrendered another run on an Aly Granados single and Neugart double in the fourth for a 6-2 score.
Russo hit her fifth home run of the season - and Tufts' fourth of the day - to lead off the fifth giving the Jumbos a 7-2 lead. Tufts senior Kristi Van Meter came on and picked up a three-inning save allowing just one hit and no runs to finish the game and the championship.
DiCocco (4 IP, 8 H, 2 R) reached double-digits in victories at 10-1. Mapes, Granados and Neugart all had two hits for Williams.
With the title, the Jumbos receive the NESCAC's automatic NCAA berth. Williams will hope for an at-large berth when the tournament field is announced on May 17.
