For all the youth on the 2006 softball roster, this time it was the team's veteran core of upperclassmen, shining on Senior Day, that led the Jumbos to the top.
With a sweep in Saturday's doubleheader against NESCAC East-rival Trinity, the softball team clinched the top playoff spot in the division and maintained its unblemished record at 7-0 in league play, moving to 22-10 overall. The sweep started with a one-hitter from senior co-captain Sarah Conroy and was finished by a one-inning save from senior Julia Brenta.
"I think we're where we expected to be," coach Cheryl Milligan said. "There's a fine line between expecting [the top spot] and taking for granted that because our shirts says Tufts, we're going to be in there. Certainly, there have been years in the past when we weren't, so it's an expectation but not a given. Clinch or no clinch, these were important games."
Two home runs, a career first from junior Annie Ross and a three-run shot from sophomore Danielle Lopez, her 11th of the year, compensated for some offensive inconsistency and gave the Jumbos enough firepower to hold off the Bantams, who fell to 17-7 on the season and 2-4 in the East division.
After a slow opener, Tufts got on the board early in the second game with a walk and a single from the Jumbos' second and third batters and a two-RBI single from sophomore Erica Bailey. Bailey drove in the team's first three runs of the day, tacking on another single in the third to put Tufts up 3-1.
Bailey went six innings on the mound, allowing just two hits to even her record at 4-4. She walked three, but turned in her four strikeouts when she had to; back-to-back K's ended the second inning with Trinity runners at the corners.
She received some help from the defense as well; her final two walks ended in a pickoff from sophomore catcher Megan Cusick and an unassisted double play from sophomore Danielle Lopez, her second of the day.
"That's been big for us this year, picking up for each other," Conroy said. "Coach has said that everyone's going to make mistakes - I let a leadoff walk on - but it's how we pick up from it. Everyone's ready to play and ready to pick each other up. That's especially great for pitchers. It's hard to go through a game without walking a batter, but you can know that it's not the end of the world, and that your defense is behind you."
Senior Julia Brenta came in for the final inning to get the save, finishing her career on the mound at Spicer Field.
Leadoff hitter Laura Chapman, a freshman, went 3-for-4, repeating her performance against Brandeis last Thursday. Her final at-bat was a perfectly executed RBI bunt that widened a one-run lead to two and moved the final insurance run to third.
"There was no sign there - that's just Chappy reading the defense and reading the pitch," Milligan said. "I didn't tell Maya to go either - she's a quick kid and she saw the bunt down and thought she could make it. I try to teach good instincts, and when we've got runners on second and third, we're going home."
Despite a fairly strong leadoff on-base presence, the Jumbos were again hampered by inconsistent hitting down the lineup, as they nearly matched their 20 hits with 17 runners left on base. Milligan attributes the patchy hitting in the middle of the lineup to a combination of smarter pitching and a power-oriented mentality at the plate.
"We need to hit the ball where it's pitched, and a lot of people are still trying to pull it deep to left and center field," Milligan said. "Part of it is that we're facing better pitchers who know our hitters better. I'm not unhappy about a three-run homer, but we're trying to take drop balls and hit them to the fence when we need to be hitting ground balls up the middle and into the fold. We've made it a very strong goal to get leadoffs on, and we're doing a pretty good job of that, but we're just not bringing them in. That goes back to the middle of the lineup wanting to do what they want to do, not what pitcher's giving them."
The inconsistent bats were redeemed by solid fielding and a few key defensive plays, as the Jumbo defense gunned for the lead runner and kept the Bantams out of scoring position.
"We had really set goals going into the game - no bunts get on base, get our leadoffs on, not allowing consecutive batters to reach base," Milligan said. "We have to respond when someone makes a mistake or gets a hit, and I think we did that pretty well."
Conroy reaped the benefits of improved defense in the opener, throwing a seven-inning one-hitter, striking out five, and walking one to move to 7-3 on the year. The only hit was a full-count home run from senior catcher Lindsey Freeman, the Bantams' leading slugger who has six on the season.
"Roy has been extremely solid this year; she keeps the ball low - she's a groundball pitcher, and she doesn't give up a lot of long balls," Milligan said. "She got up a little in her zone, which I think is where that home run came from. [Freeman] is [Trinity's] top home run hitter, Megan and Roy decided to come inside on her, since they'd been peppering her with outside pitches and she kept fouling them off. Roy didn't go quite inside enough, but that happens."
Overall, the day capped off a solid homestand for the Jumbos at Spicer Field and the careers of Conroy, Brenta, and senior co-captain Jess Barrett. The team will now hit the road for a doubleheader at non-conference Endicott on Tuesday and a bout at Colby on Saturday to finish its NESCAC schedule.
"I couldn't have asked for a better Senior Day," Conroy said. "It's a good feeling to see so much teamwork, so many of the little things going right for us on such a big day."
