LEWISTON, ME (April 29, 2023) - The Tufts University softball team won the 2023 NESCAC pennant with a 7-0 victory over Bates College in the second game of a double-header Saturday afternoon in Maine.
Prior to this year, Tufts had won 18 NESCAC East Division flags. The NESCAC alignment was changed to one 11-team division for this spring, and the Jumbos clinch the pennant at 13-1 with four conference games remaining.
In game one today the Bobcats (14-12, 6-8 NESCAC) upset the Jumbos 1-0 giving Tufts its first conference loss of the season. In game two, Tufts'
Sky Johnson pitched a four-hit shutout, while
Rachel Moore and
Josie Steinberg both went 2 for 4 with two rbis. Eighth-ranked Tufts improves to 31-3 overall.
The second game was scoreless for the first two innings until the Jumbos scored twice after two were out in the third.
Kaitlyn Perucci doubled, then Steinberg singled her home and scored when Moore doubled.
Tufts would be up 4-0 before Bates even had a hit as the Jumbos pushed two more across in the fourth.
Haley Leimbach sparked the inning with a double, then
Lindsay Neumann walked.
Keriann Slayton sacrificed the runners to second and third and they would score on an error and a wild pitch.
Cassidy Musco singled to lead off the fourth for Bates' first hit, but Johnson left her on base. With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Moore hit her sixth home run of the season for Tufts.
Lauryn Horita then doubled and scored on an error for a 6-0 Tufts advantage. Steinberg then singled home
Michelle Adelman, who had led off the sixth with a double and it was 7-0.
Bates had two hits in the bottom of the sixth, but Johnson left the runners on second and third. She then finished her complete game, improving to 9-0 while striking out eight with no walks along the way. Leimbach and Horita also finished with two hits for Tufts.
Musco had two hits in the second game for Bates. Madison Hollis, who shut Tufts out in game one, started game two as well but took the loss (2.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R). Delaney Rankin allowed nine hits and five runs (three earned) in 4.1 innings of relief.
Hollis had been outstanding in the opener, holding Tufts to four hits. She was matched for the most part by Tufts junior starter
Sophia DiCocco, who only allowed a fourth-inning home run by Kennedy Jones that was the difference in the game.
Tufts put two on in the seventh on singles by Moore and Adelman, but Hollis got a strike out to end the game. She earned her sixth win with five strikeouts in her seven innings. Musco had two hits for Bates in game one as well.
DiCocco was a tough-luck loser, going six innings giving up four hits and the one run.
The Jumbos play a single game at Endicott College on Tuesday at 4:00 pm.
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