Teams: Softball: Schedule & Results

TUFTS WINNING STREAK TO START SEASON AT SIX

COLLEGE SOFTBALL FINAL SCORES
Sun West Tournament
Tufts 10, Grinnell 2 (5 inn.)
Tufts 9, Greenville 6 (8 inn.)

At Anaheim, CA
Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Grinnell Box Score

Greenville Box Score

Maya Ripecky hit a two-run home run and drove in the game-winning run against Greenville

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Tufts University softball team had a mercy-rule win and an extra innings win on the second day of play at the annual Sun West Tournament on Tuesday. The Jumbos began the day with a 10-2 victory in five innings against Grinnell. Later, they scored a 9-6 win in eight innings against Greenville. Tufts has won six in a row to start the 2009 season.

The Jumbos, who have scored 24 of their 49 total runs in the first two innings so far, jumped on Grinnell with six in the first. Senior RF Roni Herbst (Montclair, NJ) tripled home a run and scored early. Junior SS Casey Sullivan (Berlin, CT) and first-year DH Lena Cantone (Southington, CT) both produced two-run singles later in the inning.

That was more than enough for junior pitcher Stefanie Tong (Burlingame, CA), who allowed just two hits in the first three innings before Senior 3B Kim Durinick singled and scored for Grinnell in the fourth. The Pioneers added an unearned run in the fifth. Tong finished allowing five hits and a walk in five innings.

First-year Mira Leiman-Sifry (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY) hit a two-run home run in the third for Tufts. Senior 3B Samantha Kuhles (Somerville, NJ) and Herbst (3 for 4, 2 RBI, run) singled home runs in the fifth. Kuhles and senior CF Laura Chapman (Seattle, WA) both had two hits and scored twice. Durinick was 2 for 3 for Grinnell.

Against Greenville, Tufts scored three times in the eighth inning to win. With the tie-breaker rule in effect, the Jumbos scored their first run in the eighth on a fielder's choice by senior RF Maya Ripecky (Chicago, IL). Three Greenville errors led to the next two runs. Jumbo senior pitcher Lauren Gelmetti (Westfield, NJ) finished a complete game with a scoreless bottom of the eighth inning.

The Jumbos had led the game 4-0. Cantone's RBI single was part of a two-run first inning. Two Greenville errors led to two runs and a 4-0 Jumbo lead in the fifth. Gelmetti, who had allowed just two hits through four innings, ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth. The Panthers scored six runs to take a 6-4 lead. Junior 2B Jamie Hebron had two hits, scored a run and drove home a run during the inning.

Tufts battled back, with Ripecky hitting her second home run of the trip for two runs to tie it at 6-6 in the sixth. Neither team threatened in the seventh. Tufts won for the second straight day in the eighth, including a 6-5 final over Rio Grande on Monday.

Ripecky (2 for 4, 3 RBI, run), Kuhles (2 for 5, 2 runs) and Herbst (2 for 5, RBI, run) led the Tufts offense, which had 10 hits. Gelmetti surrendered 11 hits and three earned runs in eight frames.

First-year Lindsey Schubeth was 3 for 4 with a run and an RBI for Greenville, while Hebron finished 2 for 4 with an RBI and run. Senior pitcher Dana Fleshren took the loss in relief.

The Jumbos put their unblemished early-season mark on the line twice more on Wednesday with Sun West games against Puget Sound and Doane.

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