CLERMONT, FL (March 24, 2024) – Sophomore
Claire Guitmann and junior
Lacy Chilek pitched the Tufts University softball team to wins on the final day of their Florida trip Sunday.
Guitmann went 6.2 innings allowing nine hits and two runs to earn her second win of the year in Tufts' 6-2 triumph against Elmhurst University. Chilek – in her first start since 2022 – then pitched a four-hit shutout to lead the Jumbos to a 7-0 win against Westminster (Mo.) College.
Graduate student shortstop
Josie Steinberg went 6 for 8 with four runs batted in and three runs scored in the two games.
Tufts will return home tonight with an 11-3 record.
Tufts 6, Elmhurst 2
Along with Guitmann's pitching, Steinberg was 4 for 4 with a run and rbi and
Keila McCabe had two hits.
Lindsay Neumann came in as a defensive replacement and had a triple and a two-run single.
The Jumbos took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third off Blue Jay starter Gianna Amundsen.
Bela Jimenez reached on an error, took second on a ground ball and then hustled to come around and score when
Josie Steinberg grounded out to second with the fielder making a nice place to her right to get the out at first.
Guitmann stranded a runner on third in the top of the fourth, then Tufts added to its lead. After Neumann's triple she scored on a ground out by
Haley Leimbach making it 2-0.
The Jumbos would build the margin to 6-0 with a four-run fifth. McCabe and Steinberg hit one-out singles and then
Kaitlyn Perucci walked to load the bases. McCabe scored on wild pitch, then Neumann hit a two-run single over third base. A pinch-hit single by
Lacy Chilek then scored Neumann.
Guitmann lost her shutout in the sixth. Ali Mockenhaupt earned a one-out walk for Elmhurst and would score on a single to center by Bailey Proffitt.
In the top of the seventh, a walk by Brenna Morley and consecutive singles from Chiara O'Leary, Mockenhaupt and Clara Rice (rbi) made it 6-2 and brought the tying run to the plate. However, Tufts senior
Sophia DiCocco entered and recorded a one-out save.
O'Leary finished with two hits for the Blue Jays (6-7). Amundsen got the loss giving up 10 hits and five earned runs in five innings.
Tufts 7, Westminster (Mo.) 0
In her first career shutout, Chilek worked around the four hits allowed and five walks. She stranded two runners in the second and fifth innings.
The Jumbos broke the game open in the top of the third against the Blue Jays of Westminster (3-18), with four unearned runs all coming after two were out.
Lauryn Horita was hit by pitch, then
Bela Jimenez reached on an infield error. Then in succession McCabe hit an rbi single, Steinberg added a two-run double and Perucci's rbi single made it 4-0 Jumbos.
Tufts would then score single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh against Blue Jay starter Haley Miller (7 IP, 8 H, 2 ER). Horita doubled and scored on a two-out single by Steinberg in the fifth. Neumann led off the sixth with a single and scored on a two-out bloop single over first base from Jimenez. Then Steinberg reached on an error to start the seventh and scored on another Blue Jay error during a Neumann base hit to the left side.
Steinberg finished the Westminster game 2 for 4 with three rbis and two runs. Neumann went 2 for 4 with a run and Horita scored twice.
Next
The Jumbos are scheduled to open their home and New England Small College Athletic Conference season at Spicer Field on Friday (Mar. 29) with a double-header against Williams College.
--JUMBOS--
