Teams: Softball: Schedule & Results

COLLEGE SOFTBALL FINAL SCORES
Sun West Tournament
Tufts 12, Hamilton 5
Tufts 4, Hamline 0

At Anaheim, CA
Friday, March 20, 2009

Hamilton Box Score

Hamline Box Score

Maya Ripecky had 15 RBI in 12 games at the Sun West Tournament

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The 2009 Tufts University softball team is off to the program's best start ever after running the table at the Sun West Tournament this week. The Jumbos concluded play at the tournament on Friday with a 12-5 victory over Hamilton and a 4-0 win against Hamline to finish 12-0.

Playing against Hamilton for the second time in as many days, the Jumbos trailed 4-0 in the third. Hamilton senior catcher Amber O'Connor hit a three-run home run to spark the Continentals early. However, Tufts senior Lauren Gelmetti (Westfield, NJ) came on to pitch in relief and held Hamilton scoreless over the next three innings to allow her team to come back.

A two-run home run by red-hot senior RF Maya Ripecky (Chicago, IL) got two runs back in the fourth. She then hit a run-scoring double in the fifth and scored on a two-run homer by first-year DH Lena Cantone (Southington, CT). The Jumbos scored five in the inning to take a 7-4 lead. A two-run double by senior 2B Danielle Lopez (Danvers, MA) highlighted a three-run sixth for Tufts, extending their lead to 10-4. RBI singles from senior CF Laura Chapman (Seattle, WA) and junior SS Casey Sullivan (Berling, CT) in the top of the seventh capped the late-innings onslaught for Tufts.

Gelmetti allowed an unearned run in the seventh, but recorded the victory with 4.1 innings of one-hit relief. Sullivan finished 3 for 3 with two runs scored and an RBI, Ripecky was 2 for 4 with 3 RBI and two runs, Cantone went 2 for 4 with two runs and two RBI and first-year SS/3B Mira Lieman-Sifry (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY) was 2 for 3 with two runs. Junior CF Rachel Rapoza was 2 for 3 with a run and an RBI for the Continentals.

In their tournament finale, Tufts defeated Hamline behind a two-hitter from sophomore pitcher Izzie Santone (Madison, CT). She allowed singles in the second and sixth innings and walked just one. In the sixth, after a walk and a single, she had runners on first and third, but recorded the final out with a K. The victory gave her a 6-0 record for the week.

Tufts scored an unearned run in the second. Ripecky hit a one-out single, advanced on an error and scored on a single by sophomore DH Julia Silberman (Somers, NY). They struck for three more in the fifth, starting with a one-out single by Chapman. She scored on a single by senior LF Roni Herst (Montclair, NJ), who later scored on an RBI by Lopez. Ripecky singled home a run later in the inning.

Ripecky, who was 3 for 4 against Hamline, finished the week with a .525 batting average, three home runs and 15 RBI in 12 games. Tufts hit nine home runs during the week, by six different batters.

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