Despite some of the stiffest competition of the season, the softball team wrapped up its weekend with a split, defeating Wheaton 2-1 then losing to Western Connecticut State 4-2.
Mother Nature forced the cancellation of the team's scheduled conference doubleheader against Bates last Saturday and almost wiped out its scheduled double header against Wheaton and Western Connecticut on Sunday due to bad field conditions at Tufts. In order to get Sunday's games in, the Jumbos had to hit the road and play their games at Wheaton, where they were the home team despite being on the road
"I think that we definitely wanted to play at home but clearly the weather was out of our hands," senior co-captain Nikki Blotner said.
After resting for nearly a week, the Jumbos started the day off strong by jumping on Wheaton quickly.
"Going into it we were really pumped up," said senior co-captain and catcher Lis Drake. "We hadn't played in a very long time and we were so ready to go. We had a great start."
Freshmen Julia Brenta began the game by retiring the opponents in order, to bring the Jumbos up to bat in the bottom of the first.
The offense got going right away as junior Julie Fox singled in sophomore Courtney Bongiolatti and junior Deanna Dravidian on a two out single. Fox's hit drove in the only runs for the Jumbos in the first game.
"Being able to shut them down on defense and step it up at the plate was crucial for the control in the game," Drake said.
Brenta and the Jumbos stayed in control of the game from the first inning on. Wheaton may have had a chance to score in the third inning, but its left fielder was picked-off by Drake after leading too far off the base.
"Whenever we can pick someone off second its really exciting cause it doesn't happen very often," Drake said.
After that inning it was almost smooth sailing for the Jumbos as Wheaton did not pose a threat to the Jumbos victory until the top of the seventh inning. Yet after scoring on an RBI double, the Jumbos squashed any attempt at a true rally and put a seal on the game.
Brenta pitched seven innings, and after retiring the first eight batters, allowed just six hits and one run, while striking out three. For her work, Brenta was named NESCAC Player of the Week on Monday.
As Wheaton was ranked higher than the Jumbos (sixth in the New England poll to the Jumbos seventh), the team was pleased with its victory.
"Wheaton is definitely our rival and such a huge game to win because they are right at the top in New England. It's important for our standings," Drake said.
After its exciting win, the team had little time to celebrate as it immediately went on to play Western Connecticut State University in its second game of the day.
Facing off against another strong non-conference rival, the Jumbos luck was not as strong the second time around. Behind sophomore pitcher Caroline Grieco, the Jumbos were unable to capitalize on a strong pitching performance and instead let mental errors get the best of them.
The game started off looking good for the Jumbos as they jumped out to another 2-0 lead. RBI singles from Bongoliatti and Fox once again provided for the team's offense in the bottom of the third inning.
Unfortunately for Tufts, Western Connecticut responded in the top of the fourth inning, and overcame its 2-0 deficit to post a four run inning and take the lead 4-2.
A series of errors allowed Western Connecticut to spark a rally.
"They didn't necessarily beat us so much as we lost. We just didn't play as strong as we can," Blotner said.
Despite Grieco's strong day on the mound, the Jumbos' errors left Western Connecticut with four runs scored, but only three earned. Along with the errors, Grieco also struggled with some questionable calls from the umpire.
"It was really tough for her because the umpire was very scattered, he just called a very poor game which was really frustrating for her," Drake said. "We definitely could have won that game, we had a lot of opportunities to score and win and we just didn't pull it off when we needed to."
In the end the Jumbos fell to Western Connecticut 4-2, bringing their record to 10-8 on the season. Despite the split on the day, the Jumbos still stand at the top of the NESCAC standings with their 2-0 record.
The team now looks forward to Bridgewater State on Thursday along with a busy schedule of NESCAC opponents this weekend, with double headers against Colby and Williams.
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