Every spring has that one weekend. The first weekend where you can go outside without a jacket and bask in the sunlight. The vibes, as the kids say, are immaculate. The dreariness of winter is finally washed away.
For the Tufts softball team, that weekend was this weekend. After playing 14 games in Clermont, Fla. during the Spring Games, the Jumbos finally returned to Medford, playing their first home and NESCAC games of the season over two spring days with spectacular weather. The smell of fresh-cut grass and the sounds of dugouts cheering on their teammates filled the air, as the Tufts Jumbos clashed with the Bates Bobcats and the Williams Ephs.
“The home opener was super fun. … Being able to play on Spicer, where we always practice, is an amazing feeling,” senior center fielder Michelle Adelman said. “I think everyone was super excited, and then it showed with all our hitting success and pitching success and defensive success.”
Entering the doubleheader with the 2–7 Bobcats, the Jumbos, sitting at 11–3, were heavily favored. In the circle for the Jumbos, junior Sky Johnson was dominant per usual. She allowed just one hit to Bobcat junior outfielder Grace Housholter and struck out nine batters while walking none.
At the plate, the Jumbos wasted no time putting up a crooked number. Graduate student third baseman Rachel Moore walked, followed by a double from sophomore right fielder Kaitlyn Perucci. Adelman then stepped up and cracked her third home run of the campaign, giving the Jumbos a 3–0 lead in the bottom of the first. In the next few innings, while keeping the shutout, the Jumbos continued to dominate at the plate, putting up a total of six runs.
Johnson held the Bobcats scoreless in the top of the fifth, triggering the eight-run rule and handing the Jumbos a 9–0 victory after just 4 ½ innings.
The second game of the doubleheader proved to have a similar outcome to the first, but the Jumbos took extra time to get the barrage of scoring underway. Senior ace left-hander Sophia DiCocco was lights-out in the circle, surrendering just three hits while ringing up two en route to a six-inning shutout win.
The heart of the lineup sparked the scoring once again, with Moore reaching on a fielder’s choice before being singled in by Perucci to give the Jumbos a 1–0 lead in the first. Adelman then smashed yet another homer to lead off the third. After that, like déjà vu, Moore singled and was driven in by Perucci to extend the advantage to three.
In the bottom of the fourth, Adelman and Steinberg smacked base hits before advancing to second and third. Moore singled them both home before scoring on an error. The lead was left at six after the fourth.
Fast forward to the bottom of the sixth, when an Adelman walk and a Steinberg single put two runners in scoring position for Perucci. She smacked a double to score both runners, clinching the eight-run rule victory and a doubleheader sweep. All of the RBIs came from the lineup’s top four, with Perucci driving in four of the Jumbos’ eight scores.
The next day, the Jumbos welcomed a more formidable opponent, the 7–6 Ephs. The Ephs were coached by Kris Herman, who won five NESCAC championships as the coach at Tufts.
The day’s first matchup was billed as a pitcher’s duel between Ephs first-year sensation Katie Blanch and DiCocco, and it did not disappoint.
Through six innings, the Jumbos held a narrow 2–1 lead. Their two runs came off of RBI singles from Jimenez and Adelman, while Williams got on the board due to an error from Steinberg in the fourth.
By the top of the seventh, though, DiCocco began to tire. The Ephs turned the game on its head, and after a five-run inning, Blanch closed out her complete game to send the Jumbos packing with a 6–2 win for the Ephs.
“The first pitcher for Williams was pretty good. And, I think we definitely could have adjusted a little better offensively,” Adelman noted. “We’re a team that plays really solid defense. So, kind of [going into] the second game, we knew that that wasn’t our best game.”
Though the Ephs had pulled off the upset, the Jumbos were confident in their ability to bounce back in the second game of the doubleheader, and they were proved correct.
Johnson was once again incredible in the circle, going the complete game while allowing just one run to go along with five strikeouts. The offense jumped on first-year hurler Natalie Carter early with Steinberg and Perucci both hammering in RBI doubles as the Jumbos put up a crooked number in the first.
In the second, Jimenez unleashed a triple down the left-field line and Adelman reached base on a walk. Initiating havoc with her speed, Adelman stole second, which allowed Jimenez to score on an error by the catcher.
Once the third inning hit, the floodgates opened. Moore and sophomore designated player Lauryn Horita both smacked home runs. In the fifth, junior catcher Keriann Slayton knocked in two with an RBI single and was then doubled home by junior outfielder Lindsay Neumann. To cap things off, Leimbach smashed a home run over the left-field fence to extend the Jumbos lead to nine runs, prompting the eight-run rule.
“The pitcher who came in in relief for Williams the second game was the pitcher we had lost to in the NESCAC championship last year,” Adelman shared. “So I think we were just all super excited to hit against her, and I think it kind of showed when we hit two home runs off her which was just a surreal feeling.”
Though the Jumbos would have preferred to walk away from the weekend with four wins, they are certainly on track to meet their lofty expectations. The key, though, is taking things one game at a time, and that starts on Saturday with a doubleheader at Amherst College.
“Last year we had such a good season … but, at the end of the day, we didn’t win anything. … So, I think this year we’re really focused on [going] game by game as a team, improving each and every game just so we can be in the best position in the postseason,” Adelman said.
