Softball To Host NESCAC Championship For Ninth Time This Weekend

MEDFORD, MA (May 10, 2023) - The Tufts University softball team will compete for its 13th New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) title this weekend (May 12-14) when it hosts the 2023 tournament at Spicer Field.

This is the ninth time that Tufts' Spicer Field will be the site of the conference championship, including three of the last four NESCAC Championship events. The Jumbos (35-3 overall) earned the right to host with a 17-1 NESCAC record for first place in the league this spring.

Championship Details:
2023 NESCAC Softball Championship
Dates: May 12-14, 2023
Location: Medford, MA – Spicer Field (Directions)
Coverage: TOURNAMENT WEBSITE

For the fourth year the tournament will be contested as an eight-team single elimination event. Amherst College returns as the conference champion, edging Tufts 1-0 in the final game last season. Tufts hosted and won in 2019, and Williams College won the first single-elimination tournament in 2018.

Head coach Lauren Ebstein's Jumbos will open play this weekend against eight-seed Middlebury College (18-16, 7-11 NESCAC) on Friday at 2:30 pm. Second-seed Amherst (24-12, 12-6) and seven-seed Bates College (15-16-1, 7-11) will follow on Friday at 5 pm. Saturday at 9:30 am the third quarterfinal between three-seed Williams (19-15, 12-6) and six-seed Trinity College (13-19, 8-10) will be played. Then four-seed Colby College (23-13, 10-8) will face five-seed Bowdoin College (19-19, 9-9) in the last quarterfinal on Saturday noon.

The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday at 2:30 pm and 5:00 pm, and Sunday's championship game is marked for an 11:00 am start.

This is the 22nd NESCAC Championship since the tournament started in 2001 (the 2020 tournament was not played due to COVID). The Tufts program, 47-16 in NESCAC Championship games overall (.746), has won twice as many conference titles as any other team in the league with 12. Williams has six while Amherst, Middlebury and Wesleyan (did not qualify for the 2023 tournament) have one each. Bates, Bowdoin, Colby and Trinity will be attempting to win their first conference crowns this weekend.

Perhaps most remarkable about this Tufts season has been that they have allowed just 53 runs in 38 games, a 1.39 average while they score 7.53 runs per game. Both marks lead the league. Bowdoin is the second-highest scoring team at 5.5 runs per game, followed closely by Amherst (5.4) and Middlebury (5.3). Colby is the next-best defensive team allowing 3.19 runs per game, with Williams (3.82) third and Amherst (4.03) fourth.

Among the league-leading hitters who will play in the tournament this weekend is Bowdoin's Angelina Mayers, whose .862 slugging percentage and 46 runs batted in are #1 in the league. She's tied with Williams College's Sydney Fleming for the home run lead at 14. From Colby, Chloe Wilcox leads NESCAC with 16 doubles and Jackie Hill has eight triples to top that category. For Tufts, senior Rachel Moore is second in NESCAC hitting .455, senior Michelle Adelman's 45 runs scored is second and first-year Kaitlyn Perucci has 15 doubles to rank second.

Sadie Leonard from Williams College enters the weekend as the top NESCAC pitcher in wins (13), strikeouts (185) and batting average against (.157). Tufts' Emilie Doty has the NESCAC's best earned run average with a 0.72 mark, and is second in the league allowing just a .160 batting average against. Jumbo junior Sophia DiCocco has 12 wins to rank second in NESCAC.

For full coverage of this weekend's tournament, visit NESCAC Softball Championship Central HERE.