MEDFORD, MA (March 30, 2024) – Center fielder
Michelle Adelman hit home runs in both games as the 17th-ranked Tufts University softball team opened its home and conference schedule on Saturday with a pair of run-rule victories against Bates College 9-0 (5 inn.) and 8-0 (6 inn.).
Junior
Sky Johnson and senior
Sophia DiCocco both pitched shutouts in the shortened games. Johnson allowed just one hit with nine strikeouts and no walks in the five-inning first game. DiCocco gave up three hits in six innings of game two.
The Jumbos are 13-3 overall and 2-0 in NESCAC, while Bates dropped to 2-9 and 0-2 in the league.
Game 1 – Tufts 9, Bates 0 (5 inn.)
Tufts wasted no time establishing a healthy lead. They scored three in the bottom of the first after two were out.
Kaitlyn Perucci hit an rbi double and then a two-run shot to center by Adelman made it 3-0.
The Jumbos added three more in the second inning again after two outs.
Keriann Slayton led off with a walk and
Haley Leimbach singled through the left side, but the next two batters were retried. However,
Josie Steinberg hit a two-run single up the middle and later stole home before the third out was made on a double steal.
Meanwhile, Johnson struck out six of the first seven batters she faced. Bates' only hit would be a one-out double by Grace Householter in the third. Johnson would hit a batter later in her outing, but faced just two over the minimum in her shortened stint.
Tufts would set up its first run-rule win of the season with three more runs in the fourth. Leimbach and
Keila McCabe opened with singles, then with one out Steinberg hit another two-run single. A Bates error brought home the ninth Tufts run.
Johnson improved to 4-1 by stranding a runner on base in the top of the fifth to end the game. Steinberg finished 2 for 3 with four rbis and two runs. Leimbach was 2 for 2 with two runs and Perucci had two hits.
Bates starter Isabella Albro allowed nine hits and nine runs (eight earned) in 3.1 innings.
Game 2 – Tufts 8, Bates 0 (6 inn.)
Perucci, 3 for 4 with four rbis in the second game, hit a run-scoring single in the first to bring in
Rachel Moore, who had reached on a fielder's choice and stole second.
Steinberg's defense helped keep it a 1-0 game in the top of the third. With a pair of walks and a single by Zariya Anderson, Bates loaded the bases. Bobcat Isabel Bettencourt laced one back at DiCocco, with the ball deflecting off the pitcher. Steinberg adjusted to make the play, then fired across the diamond to nip Bettencourt for the final out.
Adelman led off the third with a home run to left, her third of the season including an inside-the-parker in Florida last week. A Moore single and Perucci double made it 3-0 Jumbos.
After DiCocco worked through a lead-off single by Bates' Delaney Rankin in the fourth, the Jumbos upped their lead to 6-0 with two outs in the bottom of the frame. Adelman and Steinberg singled and would score on a two-run base hit by Moore. Tufts scored again on a Bates outfield error.
DiCocco would retire the final nine batters she faced. Tufts ended it with two in the bottom of the sixth on an Adelman walk, a Steinberg single and a two-run single by Perucci.
Along with Perucci, Tufts was powered by Adelman who finished 2 for 3 with three runs and an rbi. Steinberg went 2 for 4 with two runs, and Moore added a 2 for 4 with three runs and two rbis game.
Bates' Kennedy Jones had a single and a walk, while Rankin took the pitching loss (5.1 IP, 11 H, 5 ER).
Next
Tufts plays two more NESCAC games at home tomorrow against Williams College starting at noon. The games are make-ups from Friday's rain-out.
--JUMBOS--
