Teams: Softball: Schedule & Results

JUMBOS FINISH WEEK AT SUN WEST WITH TWO DEFEATS

COLLEGE SOFTBALL FINAL SCORES
Sun West Tournament
Pacific 3, Tufts 2
Cal State San Marcos 6, Tufts 5

At Orange, CA
Saturday, March 22, 2008

Pacific Box Score

Cal State San Marcos Box Score

ORANGE, Calif. -- The Tufts softball team will come home from California with a 7-5 record after losing twice in their final day at the Sun West Tournament. The Jumbos lost 3-2 to Pacific University and 6-5 to Cal State San Marcos. After winning their first five games, Tufts went 2-5 in the next seven.

The Jumbos led Pacific 1-0 after sophomore SS Casey Sullivan (Berlin, CT) walked with one out in the first and scored on a double by sophomore 1B Christy Tinker (Woodbridge, CT). First-year pitcher Kim Miner (Concord, MA) held that up until the fourth, when Pacific tied it on a double by Kristen Croxford and two Tufts errors. The Boxers went on to score single runs in the fifth and sixth to lead 3-1. First-year CF Stephanie Vanoudenhaegen singled and scored in the fifth and senior DH Kim Whittaker hit a run-scoring double in the sixth to chase Miner.

Tufts rallied in the seventh, but could only get one. Pinch hitter Samantha Kuhles (Somerville, NJ) led off with a single and the Jumbos loaded the bases with a walk and hit batter. After Boxer reliever Miranda McNealy struck out the next two batters, Jumbo junior LF Roni Herbst (Montclair, NJ) walked to score a run. However, with the tying run on third, McNealy got a strike out to end it. The Jumbos finished with just four hits in the game. Pacific had seven, including three by Vanoudenhaegen.

The Jumbos lost narrowly again against Cal State San Marcos. Leading 4-0 early, the score was tied 5-5 entering the seventh. Cougar Lauren Nelson started a game-winning rally with a base hit up the middle, and pinch runner Lise Leibl advanced to second on an error. Mimi Krutein sacrificed her to third, bringing Nicolette Nassif to the plate with a chance to win it. She came through, slapping a base hit that drove in Leibl and ended the game.

Tufts had jumped out to its big early lead off Cougar starter Chanel Rose. Junior 1B Cara Hovhanessian (Farmington, CT) hit a two-run homer in the second. CSUSM cut the lead to 4-3 in the third, keyed by RBI singles from Marly Barth and Tasha Stokes, as well as an RBI ground-out from Melissa Lerno. Kuhles doubled and scored to extend the Tufts lead to 5-3 the following inning. However, San Marcos reliever Lerno enter and allowed just three hits and no runs in closing out the game.

With Tufts' run supply cut off, CSUSM tied the game up in the fifth, with Barth and Lerno leading off the inning with walks and eventually coming around to score. The 5-5 tie persisted to the bottom of the seventh, when the fifth Tufts error of the game helped the Cougars win it.

Junior RF Maya Ripecky (Chicago, IL) had two hits and two RBI, while senior catcher Megan Cusick (Albany, NY) and Kuhles were 3 for 4 for Tufts. The Jumbos out-hit the Cougars 13-8. Nassif had two hits for San Marcos.

#