CLERMONT, FL (March 25, 2023) - The Tufts softball team split a pair of games in Florida on Saturday, including their first loss of the season to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 3-2. The Jumbos (12-1) came back for a 5-0 win against Millikin University.
Wisconsin-Whitewater (9-2) starting pitcher Rhianna Dick and reliever Brooke Hock held Tufts to the two runs which was their lowest output of the Florida trip so far. The Warhawks also grabbed an early lead, scoring in the first when Maggie Ward singled up the middle and would score on a ground ball out by Kiarra Kostroski.
The Jumbos would go ahead scoring twice in the top of the third.
Kat Yuzefpolsky led off with a double down the left-field line and would score during an error on
Michelle Adelman's single.
Josie Steinberg's base hit scored Adelman and Tufts led 2-1. Those would be the only runs the Brown & Blue would get though.
Whitewater scored a pair of decisive runs in the bottom of the fifth. With one out and Warhawk runners on second and third, Tufts tried to get an out at the plate on a ground ball. However, the throw hit the runner and bounced away allowing a second run to come in.
Tufts put the go-ahead runs on base in the seventh with a double by
Emma Jacobson and a single from Bella Jimenez. However, Hock got the last out on a fly ball and the Warhawks held on for the win.
Dick earned the pitching victory with five innings giving up seven hits and the two runs. Hock was credited with a save after allowing two hits and no Jumbo runs in two frames. Ally Dietz finished with two hits for Whitewater.
Sophia DiCocco (4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER) took the loss for Tufts, while
Sky Johnson went 1.1 innings in relief allowing two hits and no runs. Adelman was the only Jumbo with multiple hits with two.
Unabated, the Jumbos scores twice in the first inning to get things going against Millikin (11-7). A single by
Kaitlyn Perucci and back-to-back doubles by Steinberg and
Rachel Moore produced the 2-0 lead.
First-year
Emilie Doty and Johnson would combine on a five-hit shutout against the Big Blue. Doty started and worked her away around allowing four hits and two walks in her four innings. Johnson entered with two on and no out in the fifth when Steinberg made a spectacular grab of a line drive at short and doubled the runner off second for the first two outs. Johnson then got a foul pop-up to end the frame.
Tufts had added two in the fourth aided by multiple Millikin errors. The Jumbos' final run was provided by Moore in the fifth with an opposite-field double scoring Perucci who had singled.
Doty moved to 4-0 with the win, while Johnson earned a save with her three one-hit, scoreless innings. Perucci, Steinberg and Moore all had two hits in the middle of Tufts' line-up, with Perucci and Steinberg scoring twice and Moore driving home two.
Aundrea Jenkins was on base three times including two doubles for the Big Blue, while Maddy Regan also had two hits. Aly Armstrong dropped to 6-2 in the circle (5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER).
The Jumbos end their Florida schedule on Sunday with games against Westminster and Elmhurst.
--JUMBOS--
