Thursday

Thursday, May 1, 2003

SOFTBALL ON THE ROAD AGAIN TOWARDS NESCAC CHAMPIONSHIP

MEDFORD – When the Colby College Softball team swept a double-header against Trinity College on Sunday (Apr. 27), the Mules clinched the #1 seed in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) East Division. As a result, they earned the right to host the 2003 NESCAC Softball Championship between the top two teams from both the East and West Divisions. Colby will host Tufts University, Middlebury College and Williams College in the tournament this weekend (May 2-4).

What's wrong with this picture? At Tufts University, the NESCAC champion in 2001 and 2002, all eyes were focused on hosting the conference championship. The end result was disappointing, but hitting the road to play will certainly be nothing new to the '03 Jumbos. Due to horrible weather this winter creating unplayable conditions on Spicer Field, Tufts played 17 of its 20 northern games away from home. Their only action on Spicer was a double-header sweep of Springfield College on March 26 and an 11-3 win over Brandeis almost a month later on April 23.

No matter. The Jumbos went 17-3 up north, 14-3 away from home, and enter this weekend's tournament as the team to beat despite their #2 East seeding. The NESCAC championship in Softball has only been contested since 2000, but Head Coach Kris Herman's Tufts program has long been the conference's leader with six straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. Divisonal losses to Bowdoin and Colby this season could have opponents thinking the Jumbos are more vulnerable. Time will tell. Tufts had been 15-1 during the first two East Division seasons. They were 6-2 this spring, and are 22-10 overall entering NESCACs.

The Jumbos play Williams College, another NESCAC Tournament regular, in the second game of the tournament on Friday night (May 2) at 5:00. Colby and Middlebury open the festivities at 2:30. The tournament continues on Saturday and Sunday. The NESCAC champion will earn the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

This started as a different season at Tufts, with more uncertainty than usual. Success has become routine for the program since 1997. More of the same was expected this season, but New England Pitcher of the Year Jodie Moreau graduated out of the pitching circle last year. Depth of pitching was in place with a staff of five to start the season, but only sophomore Caroline Grieco (Manasquan, NJ/Wall) had significant experience. The big bats were lined up in a row again, but did they have the pitching to win games that the bats could not?

The answer has been a no doubt yes. The team's three losses up north were 4-2 to Western Connecticut, 5-2 to Colby and 2-1 to Bowdoin. The Tufts pitchers allowed five runs in a game just twice up north, four runs twice, and the other 16 games included four shutouts and six where one run was allowed. The staff has a 2.70 earned run average entering the tournament.

Grieco continued to pitch well and established herself as the leader of the staff with 12 starts and 67.2 innings. She's 7-3 with a 1.86 earned run average. Junior Pam Swidler (Stamford, CT/Stamford) also is 7-3 and posted a 3.07 era in 57 innings. Freshman Julia Brenta (San Anselmo, CA/Redwood) made nine starts, is 4-2 with a 2.53 earned run average and won NESCAC Player of the Week honors after her victory over #5 in the nation Wheaton College. Freshman Sarah Conroy (Biddeford, ME/Biddeford) was 4-1 in five starts.

With good pitching, the team knew it had the batting order to win plenty. The lineup has been the most fearsome in the conference by far. Tufts' 24 home runs are more than triple the amount hit by any other team in the league. Sophomore SS Courtney Bongiolatti (Locust, NJ/Middletown) and junior 3B Julie Fox (Willow Springs, IL/Lyons Township) are 1-2 in NESCAC batting, at .443 and .436 respectively. Jumbos are atop six of the eight offensive categories in the league overall. Senior co-captain C Lis Drake (Chelmsford, MA/Chelmsford) leads with 31 runs scored to go with a .382 batting average and 26 RBIs. Sophomore 1B Katie Smith (Convent Station, NJ/Morristown) is the league leader in RBIs with 32 while also batting .350 with 4 taters. Bongiolatti, Drake and Fox are tied for the league lead with six home runs apiece. Bongiolatti and Fox are tied for first with 67 total bases apiece, with Drake (60) in third and Smith (57) in fourth.

Despite all of those power hitters, it was junior 2B Deana Davidian (Pelham, NY/Pelham) who cracked the team's single-season record 23^rd home run against Brandeis. She is at .320 with 23 runs scored. Senior co-captain RF Nikki Blotner (San Diego, CA/Patrick Henry) is on base at a .333 clip and has scored 26 runs. She's a regular in the outfield with junior CF Maggie McClory (Melrose, MA/Melrose). Freshman Jess Barrett (Milford, MA/Milford) has received most of the time in left. Freshman Laura Spring (Sutton, MA/Sutton) was injured early, but plays an important utility role for the team, appearing in 20 games.