Date: Tuesday, May 2, 2001
Written by Michael Douglas

CALLAHAN AND McARDLE NAMED NESCAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

MEDFORD - As the Tufts University Baseball and Softball teams head into the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Playoffs, they will each ink one of the best players in their respective leagues onto their line-up cards. Junior RF Dan Callahan (Medfield, MA) and senior CF Randee McArdle (East Nassau, NY) have both been red-hot as of late, and both earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors last week.

Callahan was named Player of the Week for the second time this season. He torched Bowdoin pitchers this past weekend, hitting .727 (8 for 11) in a three-game series that Tufts won 2-1. His tear included three home runs and seven runs batted in. Including a loss to UMass-Dartmouth earlier in the week, he batted .533 overall to raise his batting average to .455, second in the NESCAC to Amherst's Ryan Whitmarsh (.463). He went 3 for 3 with two home runs and four RBI in the team's 8-7 win over Bowdoin on April 27. In the second game of a double-header on April 28, he was 3 for 4 with three RBIs in a 6-5 win that clinched first place in the NESCAC East Division for the Jumbos. Callahan was also named Co-Player of the Week on April 16 after going 12 for 17 in a three-game sweep of Trinity (Apr. 13-14).

McArdle, who was named Co-Player of the Week with Trinity's Kristi McDermott, represents the fourth straight Tufts softball player to be honored by the NESCAC. She went 2 for 4 with two RBI to lead Tufts to an 8-0 win at Bowdoin in the first game of a double-header on April 28 that locked up first place in the NESCAC East for the Jumbos. Earlier in the week, she was 2 for 2 with a double, her sixth home run, and two RBI in a 6-0 win over Brandeis. For the week, she hit .625 (5 for 8) with two doubles, the home run and five RBI. Also the starting goalkeeper on Tufts' NCAA runner-up women's soccer team in the fall, McArdle follows Jodie Moreau, Tiffany Trahan and Jen Mackey as consecutive Tufts Players of the Week.

The Tufts softball team (23-9-1) hosts the first NESCAC Playoff Tournament this weekend (May 4-6) at Spicer Field. The Tufts baseball team (17-11-1) will play in the NESCAC Tournament at Williams College May 11-13.

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