Teams: Softball: Schedule & Results

COLLEGE SOFTBALL FINAL SCORE
NESCAC Tournament
Wesleyan 3, Tufts 2

At Middletown, CT
Saturday, May 3, 2008

Game Box Score

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. -- Wesleyan University's Molly O'Connell hit a three-run home run in the top of the sixth inning that propelled the Cardinals to a 3-2 victory over Tufts in the championship round of the NESCAC softball tournament on Saturday afternoon. The win by Wesleyan forces a seventh and final game in the tournament tomorrow between Tufts and Wesleyan at 11:00 in the morning. The winner takes the conference title and the automatic NCAA Tournament berth that goes with it.

Tufts led 2-0 heading into the sixth, as sophomore pitcher Stephanie Tong (Burlingame, CA) was able to pitch out of some jams in the earlier innings. However, in the sixth, back-to-back Wesleyan hits by Taylor Zavadsky and Joanna Brownson along with a Tufts miscue put runners on second and third with one out. The Jumbos caught the runner off third on a ground ball to shortstop for the second out, but O'Connell followed with her fifth home run to put the Cardinals in the lead. Wesleyan pitcher Meaghan Dendy retired the Jumbos without incident in the sixth and seventh, and the Cardinals had battled back from an opening-game loss in the tournament on Friday to win three times on Saturday and stay alive.

Wesleyan, playing as the visiting team, threatened in the top of the first. They loaded the bases, but Tong got a ground out to end the threat. Tufts took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a double by junior DH Cara Hovhanessian (Farmington, CT) and a single up the middle by sophomore 1B Christy Tinker (Woodbridge, CT). Tufts had a run disallowed in the inning when it was ruled that sophomore SS Casey Sullivan (Berlin, CT) did not touch home plate when trying to score on Hovhanessian's gapper.

Wesleyan looked to tie it in the third when Dendy hit a one-out single and advanced to third base. Tong worked out of that jam with two fly balls. Jumbo junior RF Maya Ripecky (Chicago, IL) made a nice running catch to end the inning. Tufts doubled its lead to 2-0 in the fifth with the help of a Wesleyan double error. With junior Roni Herbst (Montclair, NJ) on base and one out, junior 3B Samantha Kuhles' (Somerville, NJ) hit one back up the box that wasn't field cleanly and was then thrown away by Dendy. That put Herbst on third and Kuhles on second. Sullivan then pushed a hard squeeze bunt nicely towards first base that scored Herbst.

Tufts (27-9), looking for its second straight NESCAC title and fifth overall, was held in check nicely by Dendy, who allowed seven hits in the game and did not walk anyone. Kuhles and sophomore 1B Christy Tinker (Woodbridge, CT) each had two of Tufts' seven hits. Wesleyan (21-15), which is looking for its first league championship, got a 3 for 4 game from Zavadsky.

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