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Box Score 2 
WALTHAM, Mass. – The #21 Tufts University softball team scored three runs in the first inning and hung on for the 6-2 win in game one of a doubleheader at Brandeis on Wednesday afternoon, and tallied 13 hits to earn a 9-4 victory in game two to complete the sweep.
Bela Jimenez (pictured) led the Jumbos' (27-9, 8-1 NESCAC East) offense in game one, finishing 3 for 4 with a home run. Tufts had three other players with multi-hit games in Rachel Moore, Josie Steinberg and Meggie Murphy. Steinberg finished 2 for 3 with two runs scored and an rbi. Amidori Anderson was responsible for both Brandeis (22-18, 8-12 UAA) runs with a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning as she finished 1 for 3.
After a Kat Yuzefpolsky and Moore reached base on a hit-by-pitch and a fielder's choice, Steinberg hit an rbi single to score Yuzefpolsky and put the Jumbos on the board first. Murphy delivered a two-rbi double with two outs later in the inning to make it 3-0. They added two more in the sixth inning on the Jimenez homer and Yuzefpolsky scoring on a Brandeis error, and one in the seventh when Steinberg scored on an error after a Jimenez single.
Sophia had a great performance on the mound, throwing a complete game with six shutout innings for the win. She allowed just two hits and two earned runs with eight strikeouts. Alex Cohen was credited with the loss for Brandeis, throwing four innings and allowing three earned runs on four hits with five strikeouts.
The Jumbos had another great start in game two, scoring three runs in the first two innings combined. A Michelle Adelman rbi double in the first inning put the Jumbos on the board. After Nicole Russo reached base on an error and Keriann Slayton singled to right in the second inning, Lindsay Neumann earned an rbi on a ground out for Tufts' second run of the game. Yuzefpolsky walked in the next at-bat and attempted to steal second, giving Slayton enough time to run home to make it 3-0.
Brandeis answered with one run in the third on a Jolie Fujita two-out solo home run and three runs in the fifth inning. Fujita added another rbi on a single to left field in the fifth and Marley Felder scored two Brandeis baserunners on a single to right to give the Judges a 4-3 lead going into the sixth inning.
Tufts responded in a big way in the sixth and seventh, scoring a combined six runs over those two innings. Kariann Slayton hit a two-rbi double to center field in the sixth scoring Keila McCabe and Jimenez who both singled to start off the inning. McCabe delivered again in the ninth with a two-run double to left followed by a two-run home run from Lexi Grein.
Jumbos pitcher Sky Johnson closed out the ninth to clinch the 9-4 victory, ending with a complete-game win and four earned runs allowed on eight hits with eight strikeouts. Chandra Penton was credited with the loss for Brandeis, pitching the final 1.2 innings anf allowing four earned runs on four hits with two strikeouts.
The Jumbos will now travel to Bates for their final series of the regular season, where they will play a three-game NESCAC East series starting on Friday, April 29 at 4 pm.
Written by Tim O'Brien, Athletic Communications Intern
