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Recap | Box Score
TUFTS SOFTBALL ADVANCES TO NESCAC FINAL WITH 2-1 WIN OVER TRINITY IN ELIMINATION GAME
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First year Jo Clair scored the game-winning run for Tufts |
MEDFORD - The Tufts University Jumbos moved onto the championship round of the 2011 NESCAC Softball Championship with an exciting 2-1 win over Trinity College in nine innings on Sunday afternoon at Spicer Field.
The Jumbos move on to play Middlebury College at 12:30 pm, with an if-necessary game following. Tufts needs to defeat the Panthers twice in order to win their seventh NESCAC championship.
The first three innings of the Tufts-Trinity game were scoreless, and the Jumbos did not have a base runner in the first three innings against Trinity starter Kristen Anderson.
Tufts sophomore starter Rebecca DiBiase (Wellesley, MA) worked out of a tough jam in the first inning as Trinity loaded the bases with one out on three straight singles by senior 2B Katherine Stoltenberg, first year C Abby Ostrom and senior 3B Nicole Nardella. DiBiase forced a pop out and then struck out the final batter of the frame.
While DiBiase retired nine in a row, the Jumbos got on the board in the fourth inning. Junior CF Lizzy Iuppa (Paramus, NJ) led off the inning with single and moved to second on a sacrifice by junior SS Mira Lieman-Sifry (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY). Junior 1B Lena Cantone (Southington, CT) then drove in her second run of the weekend with a double to left-center field.
With one out in the bottom of the sixth, the Bantams tied the score on a solo home run by Ostrom. Tufts then left a runner on in the top of the seventh, and in the bottom half Jumbo sophomore 2B Emily Beinecke (Concord, MA) turned a double play to stop a Bantam threat.
Each team left a runner on in the eighth inning. Lieman-Sifry led off the ninth with a single, but then was erased when Cantone lined into a double play. First year C Jo Clair (Glastonbury, CT) then flied a ball to right field that was dropped for a three-base error. Clair would then score on a wild pitch to give the Jumbos the 2-1 lead.
With Trinity playing as the home team due to tournament rules, DiBiase set down the Bantams in order in the bottom of the ninth to advance Tufts to the championship round. She earned her second win of the weekend, going all nine innings and giving up just one run on seven hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. Lieman-Sifry finished the game 2 for 4.
Anderson finished her second complete game of the weekend for Trinity, both in a losing effort. She allowed both runs (one earned) on five hits. She struck out one and walked none. Stoltenberg and Ostrom were both 2 for 4 from Trinity.
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