Teams: Softball: Schedule & Results

JUMBOS OPEN SUN WEST TOURNAMENT PLAY WITH TWO WINS

COLLEGE SOFTBALL FINAL SCORES
Sun West Tournament
Tufts 6, Rio Grande 5 (8 inn.)
Tufts 6, Chapman 0

At Anaheim, CA
Monday, March 16, 2009

Rio Grande Box Score

Chapman Box Score

Roni Herbst knocked in the game-winning run in the eighth against Rio Grande

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The #12 Tufts University softball team won two more games in California on Monday, defeating Rio Grande 6-5 in eight innings and Chapman 6-0 on the first day of the annual Sun West Tournament. The Jumbos are now 4-0.

Senior Roni Herbst (Montclair, NJ) hit an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to lift the Jumbos over Rio Grande in the first game of the day. Trailing 5-2 through three innings, Tufts rallied to tie it with two in the fourth and a single run in the seventh. Senior DH Allison Drobiarz (Old Saybrook, CT) singled home a run and scored a run in the fourth. In the seventh, junior 1B Christy Tinker (Woodbridge, CT) doubled home a run to tie the game at 5-5.

Rio Grande had taken a 2-0 lead in the second, but Tufts junior SS Casey Sullivan (Berlin, CT) tied it with a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning. Three unearned runs in the third by the Red Women gave them a 5-2 advantage. Tufts starter Stephanie Tong (Burlingame, CA) and reliever Lauren Gelmetti (Westfield, NJ) kept URG scoreless from the fourth through eighth innings. Gelmetti got the win, allowing two hits and no runs in three innings.

Tufts had 11 hits in the game, with two each from senior 2B Danielle Lopez (Danvers, MA), Tinker, Sullivan and Herbst. Junior LF Leah Hamman (Mansfield, OH) and sophomore SS Amber Bowman (Hebron, OH) had two hits apiece for Rio Grande.

Against Chapman, the Sun West Tournament host, sophomore Izzie Santone (Madison, CT) hurled a four-hit shut-out. The Panthers reached second base just twice against her.  The Jumbos got the only run they would need in the top of the first, when senior 3B Samantha Kuhles (Somerville, NJ) led off with a single and scored on a double by senior catcher Cara Hovhanessian (Farmington, CT).

First-year Lena Cantone (Southington, CT) added a run-scoring single in the second and senior RF Maya Ripecky (Chicago, IL) had one in the third for a 3-0 Tufts lead. Ripecky then clouted a three-run home run in the fifth inning for a 6-0 Tufts advantage.

Ripecky finished 2 for 4 with four RBI against Chapman, while Hovhanessian was 2 for 2 with a run and an RBI. Herbst was 3 for 3. Santone now has two wins and a save in four games for Tufts.

The Jumbos continue Sun West play on Tuesday with games against Grinnell and Greenville.

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