Strong pitching and good hitting helped the Jumbos raise their NESCAC record to 4-0 this weekend as the team rolled past Trinity 8-0, 5-1 in Saturday's doubleheader. A pitching tandem of starters sophomore Caroline Grieco, and freshman Julia Brenta worked together to produce the two victories while the Jumbos' defense finished up with an errorless day in the field.
Going into the Trinity games, the Jumbos wanted to come out strong to set the mood for the day.
"If we're the better team, we want to set the tone and jump on teams right away," coach Chris Herman said.
The day started just as the team planned with the Jumbos offense scoring five runs in the top of the first before Grieco even took the mound. The offensive strike began as Tufts' leadoff hitter, senior co-captain Nikki Blotner, reached first after a bean ball and then advanced on a wild pitch. The Jumbos' scoring attack was spurred by a key two RBI hit from sophomore shortstop Courtney Bongiolatti. This was the second of the six hits that led to all five of the team's first inning runs.
On the mound, Grieco followed the tone the offense set with a strong performance protecting the comfortable lead. Pitching only four innings while nursing an arm injury, Grieco finished the day allotting no runs and only allowing two hits. Despite her stellar pitching performance, Herman pulled Grieco out after four innings in order to keep her from further injuring herself.
While Grieco's injury may affect her playing time, Herman does not see it impeding the success of the team.
"If she can pitch four innings she should be okay," Herman said. "I don't think it's going to get a lot worse and she's going to have to play through some pain, which we're not thrilled about."
Relieving Grieco of her duties in the fifth inning was junior Pam Swidler. While Herman hoped to give Swidler more innings, the Jumbos scored three runs in the top of the fifth forcing an early finish to the contest due to the run rule.
While the Jumbo offense was able to score eight runs on the day, Herman and teammates were still not pleased with the performance. After going scoreless in the middle three innings, including stranding four runners on base, the team hopes to gain more consistency with their hitting in the future.
"We've been tending to score runs in one inning," Blotner said. "We'll be working on scoring all the time and not just settle when we get a lead."
The lack of consistency on offense plagued the Jumbos in the second game as well, although once again, strong pitching and a one inning offensive burst helped pull the team ahead to victory.
Game two featured a much tighter matchup as the score remained tied at zero for the first four and a half innings. Keeping the Jumbos in the game while the offense stood still was Brenta. The rookie finished the day with seven innings pitched, allowing six hits and only one run.
Trinity took the game's first lead. A single and a RBI double put the Bantams up 1-0. The Jumbo offense responded in the top of the sixth with two runs and then another three in the top of the seventh. The big hit in the sixth inning came from first baseman Katie Smith whose double put the Jumbos in the lead for good.
In the end, Tufts traveled home with two more victories to add to its NESCAC record, meeting the expectations the team had set for itself.
"In all, the NESCAC games we expect to win," Blotner said. "All the teams in the conference are good and they can be good competition, but we should win them."
While the offense may have some things to work on during practice this week, highlighting the team's accomplishments on the day was the defensive performance. Asking her outfielders to be aggressive earlier in the week, Herman was pleased with the strong play of junior Maggie McClory in the outfield, noting a run-preventing catch early in the day that set the tone for the outfield and defense as a whole.
Despite a few offensive concerns, the team goes into practice this week hoping to build off of their performances at Trinity in order to prepare for a busy upcoming weekend.
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