The women's softball team started its season in style last week, playing a rigorous schedule at the Sun West Tournament in Orange, California. The Jumbos had a full slate of 12 games over the course of the week, and came away with a 5-7 record.
Tufts won the first four games of the trip by margins of four runs or more. But the results soon turned sour for the Jumbos as they lost seven of their last eight games, including the final six in a row.
The last game of the trip was a bitter pill for Tufts to swallow. The Jumbos faced division rival Williams and former Tufts coach Kris Herman, now the Ephs' head coach. Tufts was unable to overcome the strong Ephs pitching, and fell 2-0 to their former head coach.
Despite the tough loss, many of the Jumbos focused on the positive aspects of the trip.
"We're still putting it all together and I think we fared pretty well overall," junior pitcher Caroline Grieco said. "We definitely didn't play as well at the end of the trip, but we were also facing stronger competition. Some of these teams have been playing outside since February."
Strong pitching led the Jumbos to two victories on the first day of the trip. In the first game, senior Pam Swidler pitched a three-hit shutout to lead the Jumbos to a 5-0 victory over Carleton. Junior first baseman Katie Smith went 2-3 with two runs scored and added an RBI.
Later in the day, sophomore Julia Brenta pitched seven strong innings to help Tufts defeat Elmhurst 5-1. Brenta went seven innings while giving up just one earned run and striking out seven. Smith and junior shortstop Courtney Bongiolatti both had two hits and three RBI for Tufts.
Tufts defeated Elmhurst 18-4 on the second day of the trip and then knocked out St. Catherine 9-2 later in the day. Tufts scored seven runs in the first inning against Elmhurst. Bongiolatti and senior catcher Julie Fox hit back-to-back home-runs before Elmhurst could record an out.
Smith went 3-3 and drove in two runs, and freshman left fielder Anne Ross drove in four runs on three hits.
Later, against St. Catherine, sophomore Sarah Conroy did it all for the Jumbos. Conroy got the win for Tufts by pitching seven strong innings and allowing two runs. She also went 2-4 with three runs batted in. Senior tri-captains Maggie McClory and Deana Davidian both contributed three hits as well. The win against St. Catherine capped off the impressive day for the Jumbos as they bashed 37 hits and crossed the plate 27 times.
The Jumbos started off their final day by playing Dominican, and were crushed 17-0. Dominican scored all 17 runs in the first three innings.
Later, Tufts had a hard time dealing with Williams' sophomore pitcher Clara Hard, who held the Jumbos to just four hits without yielding a run over seven innings. Grieco pitched solidly for the Jumbos, yielding just two runs over six innings while striking out two and walking two, but it was not enough to overcome the overpowering Ephs pitching.
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