Teams: Softball: Schedule & Results

COLLEGE SOFTBALL FINAL SCORE
NESCAC Tournament Championship
Tufts 10, Wesleyan 3

At Middletown, CT
Sunday, May 4, 2008

Game Box Score

Junior Maya Ripecky's three-run home run turned the game around early for Tufts

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. -- The Tufts University softball team hit three three-run home runs in the NESCAC championship game to power its way to a 10-3 victory over Wesleyan University on Sunday afternoon. The Jumbos won their second straight conference title and their fifth NESCAC championship overall. Tufts earns the league's automatic NCAA Tournament berth and will make the program's 10th all-time appearance in the NCAA's later this week.

Wesleyan, which forced a seventh game in the NESCAC Tournament by defeating Tufts 3-2 on Saturday, grabbed a 2-0 lead with a two-out rally in the top of the second. Base hits by Karla Hargrave and Molly O'Connell help load the bases. Lead-off hitter Becca Feiden then slapped a two-run single to left field, scoring Hargrave and O'Connell.

The Jumbos, playing as the home team, answered firmly in the bottom of the inning. Senior 2B Danielle Lopez (Danvers, MA) singled to left and took third when sophomore SS Casey Sullivan (Berlin, CT) singled through the right size. Junior RF Maya Ripecky (Chicago, IL) then struck the first big blow for Tufts, hitting a first-pitch, three-run home run that vaulted the Jumbos into the lead at 3-2.

The Jumbos added a run in the bottom half of the third. Junior DH Cara Hovhanessian (Farmington, CT), who tied the NESCAC record with eight hits in the tournament, singled and Lopez walked with two outs. Senior catcher Megan Cusick (Albany, NY) followed by lining a double down the left field line, scoring Hovhanessian for a 4-2 margin.

Tufts starter Izzie Santone (Madison, CT) worked out of trouble in the fourth. A double by O'Connell. and a base hit to left by Julia Chamberlin, along with a Chamberlin steal, put Cardinals on second and third with one out. That's where they stayed, as Santone got out of the inning without allowing a run. In return, Wesleyan starter Meaghan Dendy worked out of a jam in the Tufts fourth. The Jumbos loaded the bases with one out, but did not score.

Wesleyan came within one base of tying it late in the game. The Cardinals cut it to a 4-3 game in the fifth on a lead-off single by Marcia Whitehead and an RBI single by Joanna Brownson. After Tufts went down 1-2-3 in the fifth, Wesleyan got the tying run to third base in the sixth inning. O'Connell led off with a walk, pinch runner Alicia Collen was bunted to second and took third on a tapper in front of the plate. Sullivan made a nice play on a ground ball by Hargrave to end the inning.

The Jumbos then broke it open by scoring six runs in the sixth. After one-out hits by junior LF Roni Herbst (Montclair, NJ) and junior 3B Samantha Kuhles (Somerville, NJ), sophomore pinch hitter Jenna Robey (St. Ann, MO) clouted another three-run blast that put Tufts up 7-3. Tufts continued to smash the ball throughout the inning, capped by yet another three-run home run by Lopez making it 10-3.

Junior Lauren Gelmetti (Westfield, NJ), who relieved Santone in the fifth, finished the game for a three-inning save. The Jumbos turned their second double play of the game in the seventh.

Santone earned the victory, pitching four innings and allowing eight hits and three runs. Gelmetti pitched three innings of one-hit, no-run softball. The Jumbos had 15 hits in the game, as Hovhanessian was 3 for 4 and scored two runs and Lopez was 2 for 3 with 3 RBI and 2 runs.

Whitehead, O'Connell and Chamberlin each had two hits for Wesleyan. Pitcher Meaghan Dendy started the game as the pitcher, moved to second in the fourth and then re-entered as a relief pitcher in the sixth.

Tufts improves to 28-9 overall and will await their seeding in the NCAA Tournament regional round. Wesleyan (21-16) awaits a possible at-large berth into the NCAA's.

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2008 NESCAC Champions