SALISBURY, MD (March 16, 2025) - The Tufts University softball team handed Salisbury University its worst loss since May 2022 as the Jumbos defeated the 13th-ranked Sea Gulls 8-0 in five innings at the Margie Knight Classic hosted by Salisbury. The Jumbos also earned a 3-1 win against the College of New Jersey (TCNJ) earlier in the day for a Sunday sweep on their last day at the tournament.
Tufts (4-6) has now won six straight games against Salisbury, with all of them except today coming in NCAA Tournament play. The run-rule victory for Tufts was the first time the Sea Gulls (11-2) have lost in that fashion since a 9-1 five-inning loss to Trine University at the 2022 NCAA Division III World Series.
Lauryn Horita hit a first-inning grand slam,
Heaven Oliva homered in the second and
Sophia DiCocco pitched a five-inning one-hit shutout for the Jumbos against Salisbury. In the TCNJ win,
Fallon O'Connor earned her first collegiate pitching victory with DiCocco earning a save and
Keriann Slayton driving in two runs.
 Tufts 3, College of New Jersey 1
O'Connor allowed a lead-off single to TCNJ's Kaci Neveling in the first inning, but then retired the next 14 Lions into the fifth. She would surrender three hits and a run in the sixth, but
Sophia DiCocco came in for a save to finish up O'Connor's first career victory. She went 5.1 innings allowing four hits and a run. DiCocco retired five of the six batters she faced.
Tufts took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third.
Bela Jimenez singled down the right-field line and
Kaitlyn Perucci followed by doubling her to third.
Keriann Slayton's single to right scored the run.
A single to left field by
Sarah Cullen led off what would become a two-run fifth for Tufts. After a sacrifice by Jimenez, Perucci hit her second double of the day to score Cullen. Slayton then flied out to left for a sac-fly rbi and it was 3-0 Jumbos.
In the TCNJ sixth, Gianna Vazquez led off against O'Connor with a single through the left side. After a sacrifice bunt by Neveling, Olivia Santos and Julia Kinnally hit back-to-back singles with Kinnally's scoring pinch-runner Jules Fuchs. DiCocco entered at that point and struck out the next two Lions to end the threat.
O'Connor and DiCocco allowed just five hits and did not walk a batter. The two doubles by Perucci and two rbis from Slayton led Tufts at the plate.
Sophomore Maya Knasiak had a good outing in a losing effort for TCNJ allowing seven hits and three runs in seven innings. The Lions dropped to 5-6 overall.
Tufts 8, Salisbury 0 (5 inn.)
The Jumbos, playing as the home team in a tournament game, charged out of the gate against Salisbury. They scored six runs in the bottom of the first before an out was made. Jimenez and Perucci led off with singles and both advanced on a wild pitch. They both scored on Salisbury miscues. Horita then launched her grand slam home run to make it 6-0 Jumbos in no time.
Tufts would then expand its lead to 8-0 on the Oliva home run with one out in the second inning, her fourth of the year in 10 games. The homer scored Perucci, who had singled for her second hit in as many innings.
Meanwhile, DiCocco got the start for the Jumbos and retired the first eight Sea Gull hitters until Alayna Gigliotti singled with two outs in the third. DiCocco would set down 15 of the 17 batters she faced overall as Lexie Delcollo was the only other Sea Gull to reach, by error in the fifth. The shutout is the 21st of DiCocco's career.
Perucci (2 for 3, 2 runs), Oliva (1 for 2, 2 runs, 2 rbis) and Horita, who walked twice besides her grand slam, led the Jumbos offensively.Â
Salisbury starter Isabella Purdy did not record an out while allowing three hits and five earned runs. Justyce Richard did a nice job settling down the Jumbo bats in her four innings of relief (4 IP, 3 H, 2 R).
Next
Tufts, on its spring break trip, will stay south to practice and play at Randolph-Macon College on Wednesday and at Christoper Newport University on Saturday.
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--JUMBOS--
