WATERVILLE, ME (April 27, 2024) - The #14 Tufts University softball team rallied for four runs in the top of the sixth of Game 2 to earn an eventual 11-9 victory that gave the Jumbos a split of a NESCAC double-header at Colby College on Saturday.
Mules senior Chloe Wilcox hit a home run in the bottom of the sixth in Game 1 giving the hosts a 3-2 win.
Tufts is now 13-3 in NESCAC, needing one more win in league play to earn the #1 seed in the league outright. The Jumbos (28-6) play at Bowdoin College next Saturday in their conference finale. Colby is now 16-16 overall and 8-8 in NESCAC, tied for fifth place.
Game 1 - Colby 3, Tufts 2
Wilcox homered with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning to give Colby the eventual 3-2 win in Game 1. Abby Orso pitched a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to finish out her complete-game victory.
The host Mules had taken a 1-0 lead off Tufts starter
Sophia DiCocco in the bottom of the first. Grace Gouin hit a one-out single, went to third on a single by Wilcox and scored on a base hit by Courtney Schumacher. Wilcox then hit her first of two home runs in the game for a 2-0 Colby lead in the third.
Orso shut out Tufts through four innings until the Jumbos rallied for two runs in the fifth.
Heaven Oliva and
Haley Leimbach started it with singles. A ground ball to the pitcher by
Bela Jimenez scored pinch-runner
Sarah Cullen, then
Josie Steinberg doubled home Leimbach to make it a 2-2 game.
Wilcox would strike the decisive blow in the sixth. She was 3 for 3 with two runs and two rbis in the game. Victoria Ramirez also had three hits for Colby. Orso allowed four hits and two runs in seven innings for her 10th win.
Steinberg's two hits led Tufts.
Lacy Chilek took the loss in relief for the Jumbos. DiCocco let up seven hits and two runs in five innings.
Game 2 - Tufts 11, Colby 9
The Jumbos built a 7-0 lead before Colby came back to tie the game with seven runs in the bottom of the fifth. However, Tufts responded with four in the sixth to get the win and a split.
Steinberg hit her first home run of the season scoring two runs in the first inning.
Heaven Oliva then hit a one-out home run in the second inning and Tufts led 3-0. The Jumbos would add on three runs in the fourth (6-0), with three walks and a Mule error helping the cause. A
Rachel Moore single, a ground out by
Lauryn Horita and a walk by
Kaitlyn Perucci scored the runs.
The Tufts lead went to 7-0 in the fifth when
Keriann Slayton led off with a single and scored on an error. The Mules would have six miscues in the game overall.
Jumbo starter
Sky Johnson was cruising, allowing just a single by Gouin through four innings. However, Colby would strike for five hits and seven runs against her to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth. Liv Menyo had a rbi single, Carissa Cassidy hit a two-run triple and Schumacher had another rbi base hit. Victoria Ramirez tied the game with a double off reliever
Claire Guitmann scoring Schumacher.
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Tufts would answer right away with four in the sixth, on three hits and two Colby errors. Perucci hit a one-out single to start it and scored on an error.
Michelle Adelman, who also singled and went to third on the error, scored on an infield single from Oliva. With runners on first and third, Leimbach drove in a run with a ground ball to second, then
Bela Jimenez had a rbi ground ball making it 11-7.
Home runs by Kelsey Sullivan and Caroline DeSimone in the sixth and seventh, respectively, pulled the Mules with 11-9. Colby would bring the tying run to the plate, but DiCocco was able to get the final out on a ball hit back to her.
Oliva was 2 for 3 with two runs and two rbis for Tufts in the second game. Perucci and Adelman both had two hits, Moore scored twice and Steinberg had two rbis. Guitmann earned the win in relief and DiCocco picked up a save.
Cassidy (2 for 5, 2 rbis), Sullivan (2 for 3, run, rbi) and Ramirez (two hits) paced Colby. DeSimone scored twice. Ashley Correll (5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER) absorbed the pitching loss.
Next
In their final regular-season date, Tufts plays a single game at Babson College on Tuesday at 3:30 PM.
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--JUMBOS--
