BRUNSWICK, ME (May 4, 2024) - The 16th-ranked Tufts University softball team clinched first place in the NESCAC with a 6-2 win in Game 1 at Bowdoin College on Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore RF
Kaitlyn Perucci had four rbis in the victory and junior pitcher
Sky Johnson improved to 13-1 in the circle. The win was the 30th of the season for Tufts. The Jumbos went on to take Game 2 by a 5-0 score behind senior pitcher
Sophia DiCocco's shutout.
Prior to 2023, Tufts had won 18 NESCAC East Division flags. The NESCAC alignment was changed to one 11-team division last spring, and Tufts earns the #1 seed for the second straight season today.
The Jumbos will host the NESCAC tournament at Spicer Field for the 10th time overall.
Game 1 - Tufts 6, Bowdoin 2
Perucci hit a two-run single in the third and doubled home two runs in the fifth to lead Tufts. Johnson gave up four hits and two runs with seven K's and two walks in her seven innings.
Bowdoin had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when first-year Elise Siciliano hit her first home run of the season to left. However, Tufts turned it right around with three runs in the top of the third.
Keriann Slayton doubled to right and scored on a sharp single to center by
Haley Leimbach. After a
Josie Steinberg walk and a ground out put runners on second and third, Perucci lined one just over 2B JK Bradley's glove scoring both runners.
Then in the fifth, after back-to-back singles by Steinberg and Keila McCable, Perucci doubled to the track in right-center giving the Jumbos a 5-1 advantage.
Johnson had retired nine in a row since the home run heading into the bottom of the fifth. Bowdoin reached on a walk, an error and an infield single, but Johnson kept them off the scoreboard with a strikeout for the final out of the frame.
The Polar Bears would get a second run in the sixth led by a single and stolen base by Anika Ewert. She scored on a line drive by Chloe Garcia which just eluded Steinberg's leap at shortstop.
Tufts finished the scoring in the top of the seventh when
Lauryn Horita was hit by a pitch, Michele Adelman singled and a Bowdoin error allowed Horita to score.
Perucci, Adelman and
Heaven Oliva all had two hits in Game 1 for the Jumbos. Steinberg scored twice.
Bowdoin starter Maddie Current gave up nine hits and five runs in five innings to absorb the loss.
Game 2 - Tufts 5, Bowdoin 0
DiCocco twirled a four-hit shutout as the Jumbos finished the regular-season at 31-6 overall and 15-3 in NESCAC.
Horita put an exclamation point on the festivities with a three-run bomb in the top of the seventh bringing Tufts' lead to 5-0. The home run was her NESCAC-leading eighth of the season.
After two scoreless frames in Game 2, Tufts had jumped ahead with a pair of runs in the top of the third. Steinberg singled and Horita doubled to set up second-and-third. Perucci grounded out to pitcher Anna Halliday, who had to move to her left to make the play allowing Steinberg to score.
Rachel Moore then stroked a single to left scoring Horita.
In the bottom of the third, Bowdoin's Ewert - who had three of their four hits - got on with an infield single, but she was caught stealing by Oliva. It was just the third time Ewert was caught stealing in 51 attempts this season.
DiCocco was rolling, but the Tufts lead remained 2-0 into the bottom of the sixth. The Polar Bears would put the potential tying run on base with singles by Kyla Gary and Ewert. However, DiCocco struck out the next two batters to squelch the threat.
Then in the Tufts seventh, pinch-hitter
Lindsay Neumann and Steinberg singled to get on in front of Horita who hit her blast out in left-center.
DiCocco struck out six and did not walk a batter while improving to 12-4. Steinberg at 2 for 4 with two runs and Horita's 2 for 3 with three rbis and two runs game led Tufts.
Halliday took the loss for Bowdoin (23-15, 7-9), giving up six hits and two runs in three innings.
Next
The 2024 NESCAC Championship will start at Spicer Field in Medford, Massachusetts next Friday (May 10). The final seedings will be announced tomorrow following the conclusion of all NESCAC games.
--JUMBOS--
