Teams: Softball: Schedule & Results

JUMBOS DROP TWO GAMES AT SUN WEST TOURNAMENT VERSUS WESLEYAN, ST. THOMAS

COLLEGE SOFTBALL FINAL SCORES
Sun West Tournament
Wesleyan (CT) 9, Tufts 6
St. Thomas 16, Tufts 6 (6 inn.)

At Orange, CA
Thursday, March 20, 2008

Wesleyan Box Score

St. Thomas Box Score

ORANGE, Calif. -- Returning to action after an off-day on Wednesday, the #15 Tufts softball team lost twice at the Sun West Tournament near Los Angeles on Thursday. They were defeated by Wesleyan University from NESCAC in a non-conference game, 9-6, and then lost in six innings, 16-6, to University of St. Thomas. The defeats leave the Jumbos at 5-3 overall.

Wesleyan pitcher Meaghan Dendy blasted a seventh-inning, three-run home run to lift the Cardinals over Tufts in the first game. Wesleyan had moved out to a 6-0 lead after the top of the fifth. Tufts rallied to tie the game with three runs in both the fifth and sixth. Junior CF Laura Chapman (Seattle, WA) and junior 3B Samantha Kuhles (Somerville, NJ) both scored in each inning.

Dendy untied it as her round-tripper with Alicia Collen and Julia Chamberlin aboard put the Cards up 9-6. Dendy closed out the complete-game win on the mound, allowing two hits but no runs. Chapman finished 2 for 3 for the Jumbos.

In a rematch against #4 St. Thomas, whom Tufts had run-ruled earlier in the week, the Tommies turned the table on the Jumbos and won in six innings. Leading 7-6 entering the bottom of the sixth, St. Thomas scored nine times to end the game. A three-run, pinch-hit home run by Ann Carpentier ended it. Earlier in the inning, junior C Steph Moores had a two run single for the Tommies.

After St. Thomas scored four times in the bottom of the first, two on a double by SS Morgan Betker, Tufts rallied to take a lead. They scored three times in the second, with the big hit a two-run single by junior 1B Cara Hovhanessian (Farmington, CT). The Jumbos took a 6-4 lead in the top of the third, sparked by a two-run single by Kuhles. After scoring two unearned runs in the third to tie it 6-6, St. Thomas went back ahead, 7-6, on a solo home run by Maria Bye. The Tommies blew it open in the sixth.

St. Thomas finished with 14 hits against two Tufts pitchers. Lead-off hitter Kaitlyn Wightman was 3 for 4 with two runs scored. Bye ended the game 2 for 3 with three runs and two RBI. Betker drove in three runs for the Tommies, and junior Maria Radcliffe got the win in the pitcher's circle. Hovhanessian (3 for 3), Kuhles (2 for 4) and junior LF Roni Herbst (Montclair, NJ) with a 2 for 3 game were the Jumbo leaders.

Tufts looks to get back on track with two games on Friday against St. Mary's of Minnesota and LaSierra. They finish up tournament action on Saturday.

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