CAMBRIDGE, MA (April 16, 2025) - Junior
Madi Sewell's two-run double early in Game 1 was a key hit, and senior
Lacy Chilek threw six strong innings in Game 2 as the Tufts University softball team swept a double-header at MIT on Wednesday. Scores were 4-3 and 4-2.
Playing their first non-league games on New England soil, Tufts improved to 14-12 overall. The Jumbos have won 10 of their last 12 games. MIT dipped to 14-9.
Game 1 - Tufts 4, MIT 3
Sewell, making just the second start of her career, hit an opposite-field two-run double to give the Jumbos a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
Lauryn Horita had walked and
Haley Leimbach was hit by a pitch in front of Sewell and both scored.
Bela Jimenez then dropped a single into center scoring Sewell and it was 3-0 Jumbos early.
MIT would get one back in the bottom of the second. Ava Ladd singled through the right side and advanced to second on a Tufts error. With two outs, Layla Thiessen topped one out in front of the plate and was safe when a tough play at first was mishandled with Ladd coming around to score.
The Engineers closed to within 3-2 starting with a one-out double by Maggie Feng in the fourth. After a Tufts error put runners on first and third, Feng stole home when the Engineers faked a steal of second. With MIT runners on second and third later in the frame, Tufts starter
Sophia DiCocco stranded them with a pair of ground ball outs.
Tufts had a response in the fifth to lead 4-2. With two outs,
Keriann Slayton walked and then scored from first on a deep double by
Kaitlyn Perucci. The Engineers caught Perucci at third trying to turn it into a triple.
MIT would make it a 4-3 game in the fifth. Mackenzie Bivin led off with a single, stole second and eventually scored on another Jumbo error. They had four in the game.
In the MIT sixth, Mikayla Cable reached on a bunt single and moved to third with one out. Representing the tying run, she was left there as DiCocco again recorded two ground-ball outs to stop the threat.
Jumbo pitching would again hold on to the lead in the seventh. Following a lead-off single by Bivin, Tufts went to the bullpen for
Fallon O'Connor. She recorded three straight outs, stranding Bivin on second and earning her second save of the season.
Tufts would have just six hits against Caroline Langmeyer. Horita was on base twice with a walk and a hit. DiCocco earned the victory pitching six innings giving up just one earned run.
Bivin and Cable both had three hits for MIT in Game 1, while Ladd finished with two. Langmeyer (7 IP, 6 H, 4R) took the loss. The Engineers left 10 runners on base.
Game 2 - Tufts 4, MIT 2
Chilek went six innings allowing six hits and two runs to improve to 3-0 on the season. She pitched five scoreless innings as Tufts built a 4-0 lead. MIT scored in the sixth and would then have the tying runs on second and third in the seventh, but a nice play by Perucci at first ended the game in favor of the Jumbos.
Tufts would grab a lead (1-0) early in Game 2 as well. Walks by Horita and Sewell in the second inning helped lead to a two-out double from
Cat Kawabe, which scored Leimbach who had reached on a fielder's choice.
After allowing singles to Cable and Thiessen to lead off the MIT first, Chilek had retired the next eight Engineers before Thiessen tripled with two outs in the third. Chilek was able to leave her there by getting Bivin for the third out on a ground ball to third.
Tufts loaded the bases with one out in the fourth on a MIT error and singles by Sewell and Kawabe. After the Engineers got a force-out at home, Perucci delivered a two-out, two-run double to left field and Tufts led 3-0.
Chilek followed with a 1-2-3 fourth inning and worked around a one-out double by Feng to get through five scoreless. In between, Tufts had added a run in the top of the fifth to go up 4-0.
Heaven Oliva led off with a single and pinch-runner
Sarah Cullen would score on a two-out single to center by
Lindsay Neumann.
A two-out triple by Slayton in the Tufts sixth did not result in another run. Tufts would later leave the bases loaded in the seventh, as they would leave 12 runners on base for the game.
MIT would break up Chilek's shutout in the bottom of the sixth after two were out. Kennedy Adkison doubled and Arianna Kumar sent her home with a single up the middle. Oliva snagged a sharp line drive at third to end the inning.
After issuing a walk to Sharona Huang to start the MIT seventh, Chilek was replaced by O'Connor. A single by Cable and fielder's choice from Thiessen scored Huang closing the gap to 4-2. Another single by Ladd and a wild pitch put Engineers on second and third with two outs. However, Perucci reached up to grab a liner by Bivin that was headed for right field to end the game.
Kawabe was 2 for 4 with a run and an rbi for the Jumbos. Leimbach scored twice. O'Connor picked up a save in the second game as well.
Cable and Thiessen both had two hits for MIT. Nicole Doering started in the circle and took the pitching loss allowing six hits and two earned runs in five innings.
Next
Tufts travels to Hartford, Connecticut for a NESCAC double-header at Trinity College on Friday. The games are the make-up date of a postponement earlier in the season.
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--JUMBOS--
