MEDFORD, MA (April 12, 2026) – The Tufts University softball team had 16 hits in the second game, including three each from
Haley Leimbach and
Ella Malin, as the Jumbos earned an 8-6 victory to split a NESCAC doubleheader with Trinity College today at Spicer Field.
Tufts lost 7-5 in the first game, as Trinity senior pitcher Kaysen Shikar held off a seventh-inning rally by the Jumbos to earn a complete game victory.
The Jumbos reached 20 wins with the game-two win, and now stand 20-6 overall and 9-3 in NESCAC. Trinity is now 12-10 overall and 4-4 in NESCAC.
Game 1 – Trinity (CT) 7, Tufts 5
Trinity led 7-2 before the Jumbos scored three times in the bottom of the seventh inning and had the potential tying run on base. Shikar got a fly ball out to end the game and earn her fifth win, allowing 10 hits and five runs.
The Bantams led 3-0 after scoring single runs in the first, third and fifth innings. Abby Alper led off the game with a walk and would score on a wild pitch in the first. Kellie Schroffner reached by error to start the third and scored on a single by Katie Ruffer. In the fifth, Emily Goddard hit a one-out double, was able to get to third on a Jumbo error during a rundown, and scored on a sac fly from Isabella Calagna.
Tufts came to life in their fifth, scoring twice.
Mack Seibel and
Ella McHugh led off with singles, leading to pinch-runner
Emma Wingate scoring on a ground ball by Malin and McHugh coming home on a base hit by
Lauryn Horita making it a 3-2 game.
Trinity responded immediately though, scoring four in the top of the sixth. Alper's two-run single up the middle was the key hit.
In the Jumbo seventh, another single by Seibel led it off, and then Malin hit a one-out single. An rbi base hit by Horita, a run-scoring ground out from
Heaven Oliva, and an rbi double by
Paige Murphy made it 7-5, but Shikar was able to get the last out as Trinity held on for the win.
Horita was 3 for 4 with two rbis and a run at the top of the Tufts order, while Seibel and Malin finished with two hits apiece and McHugh scored twice.
Avery Kanouse started and gave up six hits and four runs (two earned) in five innings to get the pitching loss.
Goddard and Heather Roth had two hits each for the Bantams in game one. Schroffner scored twice.
Game 2 – Tufts 8, Trinity (CT) 6
The Jumbos combined for five runs in the fourth and fifth innings to lead 8-3, then held off a Trinity surge in the sixth to earn the split.
Tufts had started strong, scoring three times in the first.
Haley Leimbach hit a two-run double to lead the inning. Bantam starter Erin Connor settled down and held Tufts scoreless in the second and third innings while the Bantams came back to tie the game. RBIs by Schroffner in the second, Makenna True in the third and Goddard in the fourth tied the game at 3-3.
The Jumbos would have five of their 16 hits in the fourth inning, and scored three times. With the bases loaded, a sac fly from Oliva, a base hit to right from Murphy and an infield hit by Leimbach brought in the runs that put Tufts ahead 6-3. The Jumbos stretched their advantage to 8-3 in the fifth, as Oliva sent an opposite-field rocket to right that landed just inside the foul line to score one run, and Murphy singled home another. The Jumbos had two runners on base when the third out was recorded.
Trinity then launched themselves back into the game by scoring three runs on four hits and two Tufts errors in their sixth. Calagna and Mikayla O'Brien had rbi singles surrounding another run that scored on one of the errors. However, Calagna was thrown out at home by Murphy for the third out after O'Brien had dropped her single into shallow left field.
The Bantams would put two runners on base in the seventh, including a single by Calagna, but Tufts first-year reliever
Sarah Brody got a ground ball to end it.
Seven Jumbos had multiple hits in the game. Besides Leimbach (4-0-3-3) and Malin (4-1-3-0), Horita (4-2-2-0), Oliva (3-1-2-2), Murphy (4-1-2-2), Petrucci (3-1-2-0) and
Erin Hersh (4-2-2-0) all played roles offensively. First-year
Francesca Colangelo started and earned the win (4.1 IP, 8 H, 3R), while Brody achieved her second save.
Trinity had 13 hits of their own in game two, led by three from Ruffer and two each from Calagna, O'Brien and Schroffner. Connor took the pitching loss, giving up 11 hits and six runs in 3.2 innings.
Next
Tufts has single games against non-conference foes Babson on Tuesday (away) and Endicott on Wednesday (home). Both are 4 PM starts.
--JUMBOS--
