MEDFORD, MA (May 11, 2025) – The Tufts University softball team won twice on Sunday to capture the program's 15th NESCAC title at home on Spicer Field.
As they have done many times this season, the top-seeded Jumbos came from behind to win both games. They took Sunday morning's semifinal against Colby College 6-4, then won 8-3 in the championship game against Wesleyan University later in the day.
Tufts (28-13) earns the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, with the full NCAA field being announced on Monday morning at 11 AM. The NESCAC title is the first for the Jumbos since 2021.
Senior pitcher
Lacy Chilek was excellent in relief for the Jumbos today, allowing no runs in 7.1 innings while earning a win and save in the two games. Sophomore
Fallon O'Connor and junior
Kaitlyn Perucci hit key home runs, while senior
Keriann Slayton had three rbis for the Jumbos and junior
Madi Sewell had a strong showing in the championship game.
NESCAC Semifinal – Tufts 6, Colby 4
Seeded fourth in the tournament, Colby took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Avery Lyman reached by error and Erika MacLeod walked before Emma Burnham drove a two-run double into right-center.
However, Tufts answered with a six-run bottom of the third. Walks by
Bela Jimenez and
Haley Leimbach around a single from Perucci loaded the bases.
Heaven Oliva's sacrifice fly plated Tufts' first run. Slayton then shot a single down the right-field line scoring two and Tufts led 3-2. Colby brought in reliever Sophia Meade for starter Ashley Correll, but O'Connor's three-run home run – the first of her Tufts career – gave the Jumbos a 6-2 advantage.
Colby cut the margin in half with two in the top of the fifth. They loaded the bases with singles by Lyman, MacLeod and Burnham. A pair of infield hits by Carloline DeSimone and Carissa Cassidy scored the runs which closed the Mules to within 6-4.
Chilek for Tufts and Meade for Colby would be strong in relief for the remainder of the game. The Mules brought the potential tying run to the plate after a Tufts error in the top of the seventh, but Chilek retired the final two batters to close down the win.
The Jumbos won despite finishing with just four hits. Jimenez walked twice.
Sophia DiCocco started and earned the win for the Jumbos (4.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER), with Chilek going the final 2.1 innings scoreless without allowing a hit to earn the save.
Burnham had two hits at the top of the Colby order. MacLeod had a hit and a walk and scored twice. Correll was the losing pitcher allowing two hits and five runs in 2.1 innings. The Mules finished their year at 17-19.
Championship Game – Tufts 8, Wesleyan 3
With Tufts playing as the visiting team on its home field, Perucci's three-run home run in the top of the fourth was the biggest hit of the day for the Jumbos. It turned a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 advantage.
Both teams scored in the first inning, with rbi doubles by Slayton for Tufts and Abby Orso for Wesleyan delivering the runs.
The third-seed Cardinals took a lead with two runs against DiCocco in the bottom of the third making it 3-1. Molly Lennon led off with a single, Rebecca Cassel-Siskind walked and then Isabella Secaira-Cotta doubled home Lennon. Tufts went to Chilek in the circle, and Orso greeted her with a sacrifice fly scoring the Cardinals' second run of the frame. Chilek ended the rally there though with a pop-up and a fly ball.
Tufts again met an opponent's rally with their own, scoring four in the fourth for a 5-3 lead.
Lauryn Horita and
Lindsay Neumann had singles, followed by an rbi single from Sewell that made it 3-2 Wesleyan. Then Perucci's no-doubt drive over the fence in left scored three and gave Tufts the lead.
After a 1-2-3 inning from Chilek in the bottom of the fourth, the Jumbos added three more runs in the top of the fifth. Slayton's single and Horita's double got it started. Neumann brought Slayton in with a sac fly, Sewell doubled home Horita and Jimenez scored Sewell with a base hit. Suddenly the Jumbos had an 8-3 advantage.
Chilek took it from there. She stranded two in the Wesleyan fifth after a walk to Secaira-Cotta and a single by Orso. She then pitched 1-2-3 sixth and seventh innings to bring Tufts to the conference title.
Improving to 7-0 with the win in relief, Chilek allowed one hit and no runs in her five innings. Sewell went 3 for 3 with two runs and two rbis, while Horita had two hits and scored twice. Slayton and Leimbach also finished with two hits.
Orso went 2 for 2 with two rbis to lead Wesleyan. Secaira-Cotta had a walk, a hit and pitched two perfect innings of relief. Orso was the losing pitcher (4 IP, 8 H, 5 R).
--JUMBOS--
