It was a classic case of East vs. West. On Friday, the Williams softball team swept conference rival Hamilton in a doubleheader to move to first place in the NESCAC West Division. Four days later, the Ephs took on the Jumbos, an opponent from the East Division, and found something a little more formidable as Tufts handed them their second conference loss of the year, 7-1. With its seventh straight win, Tufts jumped to 22-5 on the season and remains undefeated in NESCAC play.
Senior co-captain Courtney Bongiolatti smacked her 11th home run of the season, extending her hold on the school single-season record. Junior Julia Brenta held the Ephs to just three hits and only one run, striking out six and walking only one to pick up the win and bring her record to 5-0. Brenta is one of three undefeated Tufts pitchers. Williams freshman Melissa Iacobucci was handed the loss, dropping to 4-2.
Only three Ephs made it to the plate in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings as Brenta repeated the three-hit, one-run performance by classmate Sarah Conroy last Friday in the team's 7-1 win over Wesleyan.
The Jumbos moved out in front with two runs in the second inning when senior co-captain Katie Smith walked and freshman Megan Cusick launched her third home run of the year to put Tufts up by two.
"She's just starting to show up [on the stat sheet], but Megan has been hitting the ball hard all year," coach Cheryl Milligan said. "I can't think of a kid smacking the ball harder and getting unluckier breaks all season."
The Ephs cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the second inning with a long leadoff double to left by junior Christine Williams, who advanced on a grounder and then scored on a Tufts error.
The Jumbos extended their lead in the top of the third, putting two more runs on the board. Freshman Danielle Lopez doubled to right-center, and scored on back-to-back past balls. Bongiolatti's solo shot brought in the final run of the inning. The senior, now slugging .869, leads the NESCAC in home runs and has cleared the fence in six of the last seven games.
The Jumbos added three more runs in the fifth inning, scoring on an RBI singles from freshmen Erica Bailey and Mara Dodson and a wild pitch from Iacobucci, one of three for the freshman.
The Ephs were unable to find any offensive success against Brenta, failing to bring in another run and tallying only three hits on the day.
"Williams has some good hitters, but I think I was hitting my spots," Brenta said. "My curves were moving, my changeup was working, which is a key strikeout pitch. I think also as you get deeper into game and you're not hitting a pitcher, it gets harder."
Brenta also commented on the emergence of power and depth in the Tufts bullpen this season, not traditionally one of the team's strong spots.
"Everyone's really been hitting their spots this year," she said. "It's hard sometimes when games get rained out and you don't pitch for a while, but we're really deep in our pitching lineup and it's great to know that you can go out and prove yourself but that there are people behind you to back you up if you need it."
Tufts will finish the regular season this weekend with doubleheaders at home on Saturday against Colby and on the road against Trinity on Sunday. Both are division conference games, and Trinity, at 2-2 in league play, stands as the biggest challenge to an undefeated NESCAC season for the Jumbos. Tufts still remains well ahead of the NESCAC East competition as the only team above .500. Trinity would need to sweep the Jumbos in order to have a chance of overtaking Tufts for the NESCAC East lead.
While acknowledging the success the team has had in the league this season, Milligan commented on the unpredictability of NESCAC competition.
"On any given day, we're beatable by any team," she said. "We need to win [against Trinity and Colby]. We have a nice jump right now, but they're certainly important games. We're definitely the team to beat, but we're not unbeatable."
Looking ahead to the postseason, a Tufts appearance in the College World Series will depend heavily upon the Jumbos carrying their season-long league dominance through to the NESCAC tournament. The top two seeds from each division will meet in a double-elimination tournament, the winner of which receives an automatic qualifying bid to one of eight first round pools of the national tournament, the key to a World Series berth.
