The softball team's doubleheader sweep of Williams on Sunday brought its record above .500, extended its winning streak to five, and stole two games from the defending NESCAC champions.
But even more important was what it represented for this year's squad. With a 6-4, 4-1 sweep of the Ephs, the Jumbos came face-to-face with the ghosts of last year's unfulfilled season and bolstered the confidence of an extremely young roster.
"We tried to play Williams just like any other team, and while we were playing them, they were," junior centerfielder Annie Ross said. "But afterwards, it was Williams - they ended our season the last two years, and we just don't like them, so getting those hits and beating them, especially on our home field, is great."
Since Williams is in the NESCAC West, the wins will not count towards Tufts' seeding in the NESCAC East, but the wins exacted some revenge on the Jumbos' biggest rival and provided a much-needed confidence boost.
"In terms of the standings, this doesn't count much, and we're not concerned with [national] rankings," Milligan said. "But we proved that we can win with this young team, and that will carry a lot as we head into the playoffs, where we can guess we'll see [Williams] again. We need to play better, but overall we showed that we can win ball games."
Much of the buzz around Williams rested on senior ace Clara Hard, the 2004 and 2005 NESCAC Pitcher of the Year. But the Jumbos broke through the hype, humbling Hard with 10 hits over five and two-thirds innings.
"Going in, I thought we had a good shot at taking these games," Milligan said. "It wouldn't come down to talent, but the ability to get around all the hype and play our game. We didn't do that as well as we could have, but we did it well enough to get the W."
It wasn't the prettiest win, as the Tufts defense committed six errors, but the miscues were tempered by solid pitching, stronger bats, and some spectacular lead-saving plays.
In the second leg of the doubleheader, sophomore Erica Bailey turned in five scoreless innings, walking one and whiffing five to earn her first win of the season.
The second game was slow offensively, especially for the Ephs, who saw only 16 at-bats in the first five innings. The Jumbos got on the board in the second with a solo line-drive home run from Bailey. Sophomore Danielle Lopez added to the lead with a monster three-run shot in the third inning that brought the fourth Williams hurler of the day to the mound.
Down 4-0, the Ephs challenged in the final inning with two leadoff doubles and a walk. Milligan called a mound conference to rally her team, and the Jumbos ended the game with a huge pickoff at second by sophomore catcher Megan Cusick, a spectacular diving catch by senior co-captain Jess Barrett in right, and a harmless popup to left field.
"I reminded them in a not-so-soft-spoken way about what our goals were and what we needed to do," Milligan said. "With Jess's catch, you can't sell short the advantage of being a senior, and saying 'this is my last chance to do this.' That was huge, and I'm really proud of her for coming up with that."
In the opener, the Jumbos started slow, posting three straight 1-2-3 innings before coming alive in the fourth. A fielder's choice and a wild pitch put two runners in scoring position, and freshman Cara Hovhanessian blasted a two-run triple to put the Jumbos up 2-1.
Two iffy umpire calls and two Tufts errors in the fifth put the Ephs on top 4-2. The Jumbos' defense was far from perfect on the day, plagued by simple errors typical of a young squad. But less typical, and a bright spot for Milligan, was the team's ability to recover and get tough outs when it mattered most.
"We had a few defensive breakdowns, but we're a much better defensive team than last year," Milligan said. "We look ridiculous when we drop pop flies, but the good news that those are simple things that we know how to fix. At times, we were basically saying 'if you want this game, go ahead and take it from us.' But our pitchers were having the kind of day where we can come back from that, and in the end, we were better than [Williams]."
Down 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth, the Jumbos poured in four runs on five hits, including a two-run double from Bailey and an RBI triple from sophomore Heather Kleinberger that took Hard out of the game. Tufts reclaimed the lead and held the Ephs scoreless in the seventh for the win.
Senior co-captain Sarah Conroy pitched the full seven innings, walking three, striking out three, and giving up two earned runs as the Jumbos won 6-4.
The new character of the 2006 team came through, as the top of the order executed to get on base and advance runners. Ross put down two perfect sacrifice bunts, freshman Roni Herbst reached on both of her slappers, and freshman Laura Chapman reached on a bunt, both courtesy of their exceptional speed and ball placement.
"We got more fundamentals down," Milligan said. "Annie had two great sacrifice bunts, and our slappers and bunters did a better job of reading the defense and knowing where to put the ball."
The Jumbos will likely run into the Ephs in the NESCAC tournament, and, according to Ross, they're looking forward to it.
"We'll probably see them again in the playoffs, and we say bring it on," Ross said. "They've lost that edge that they've had over us. Beating Clara Hard is a great achievement and we want to do it again. She's a great pitcher, and she had a pretty good game, but we had a better game, and it's always good to beat the Purple Cows."
