The games don't get any bigger than this. The NESCAC playoffs are here and as if that is not enough reason to excite the Jumbos, they will face rival Williams College in the first game on Friday at Williams.
Earlier this season, Tufts fell 2-0 to Williams on the team's spring trip to California in non-NESCAC play. The Jumbos would like to exact some sweet revenge on former coach Kris Herman, who left Tufts to become the coach of the Williams team. The Jumbos, however, are just staying focused on the game.
"It's the postseason, so we really don't care who we're facing during the game," senior tri-captain Deana Davidian said. "The only difference is that it would be a lot sweeter afterwards if we do win."
"Playing our old coach might give us a little bit of extra motivation," senior Pam Swidler said. "But it won't be in our heads as much as the first time we played them. It's such a different atmosphere now."
Tufts has yet to announce a starter for the game, but the two most likely candidates are sophomore Julia Brenta and junior Caroline Grieco. The Jumbos will be facing Williams pitcher Clara Hard, who shut them out in their previous meeting. In that outing on March 27 in California, Hard pitched seven innings while yielding only four hits. She also struck out five and walked three. Despite her recent success, the Jumbos are confident they can handle the talented pitcher.
"She's a good pitcher; she has pretty good speed and she also mixes location nicely," Davidian said. "We can definitely hit her though. We saw her in the NESCAC Championship last year, so the key for us is making adjustments when we need to."
"We played a pretty good game the last time we faced them, we just need to play a little cleaner this time," Grieco said.
Tufts has also made a number of changes since the last time they faced Williams.
"We've switched around our batting order and also some elements of our defense," coach Cheryl Milligan said. "We now have an everyday third baseman and we've moved Laura Spring to the outfield. We also have some faster players at the top of our lineup who are good bunters."
Williams has strong pitching and defense, but the Jumbos think they have a definite advantage when it comes to batting.
"Williams isn't going to make mistakes," Milligan said. "So we've got to hit the ball hard and focus on getting on base because they don't make many errors. But I think we have the better hitting team."
The tournament is double elimination and four teams are in the field. Tufts has a history of success at NESCACs -- it has never lost the tournament.
The 2004 season has been one of many twists and turns for Tufts. The Jumbos started out the season by winning five of their first six games. Then things went downhill as the Jumbos dropped their next ten games. But they found their stride at just the right time, winning 11 of their next 14 contests, including nine straight.
"We just need to remember how we've played in our last nine games and focus on playing our own game." Grieco said.
The Jumbos have the highest expectations going into the weekend.
"Tufts has never lost in this tournament, so I feel like we are the favorites and that we are the best team in the tournament," Grieco said. "We expect to win."
In order for Tufts to be successful this weekend, Davidian feels the team needs to be on the top of its game in a few key areas.
"In order to do well this weekend we need to have strong pitching with consistent defense, but it's also important we have some timely hitting," Davidian said.
If the Jumbos come through on those tasks, it's likely they will once again have the familiar feeling of hoisting the NESCAC championship trophy at season's end.
