Tufts sophomore Danielle Lopez must dream about fastballs from Bridgewater State senior Kaitlyn Gambino.
Last night, with the game knotted at three in the bottom of the seventh and two runners on base, Lopez faced off against Gambino with the game and Tufts' seven-game winning streak on the line.
Lopez crushed the ball deep to left-center for her third home run of the game, capping off a 6-for-8 performance that included the three blasts, five RBI and 15 total bases.
The walk-off shot gave the softball team its eighth straight win and completed a sweep of Bridgewater State in the non-conference doubleheader on Thursday, 10-5 and 6-3.
It wasn't the first time that Lopez has burnt Gambino.
Exactly 364 days ago, Tufts faced Bridgewater State in another doubleheader.
The Jumbos won those two games by a run each, fueled by - you guessed it - three home runs by Lopez.
Two were off of Gambino.
Lopez was named the NESCAC Player of the Week on Monday for her seven hits and five RBI during the Jumbos' five wins last week, and she defended the title.
The sophomore now has seven home runs and 28 hits on the season, and is batting a team-best .418 with an astronomical .761 slugging percentage.
"Danielle has phenomenal hitting skills," coach Cheryl Milligan said. "I'm glad she's on our side. She has a great mindset at the plate that helps her to be very, very effective and very clutch."
The Jumbos needed that clutch hitting in game two of the doubleheader. Despite 12 strikeouts and no walks from sophomore Erica Bailey (2-3), slower bats and two unearned runs took the game down to the wire against the Bears, who looked to split the doubleheader after a 10-5 loss in the opener.
Tufts took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning on Lopez's first shot, a Bridgewater error, and an RBI double from Bailey. The Bears countered with a home run in the second, but Lopez' second dinger gave the Jumbos their largest lead of the game, a short-lived 3-1 advantage.
Tufts led 3-2 going into the sixth when Bridgewater rallied to tie. Two infield singles, two groundouts, and a passed ball put runners at second and third with two outs.
Freshman Lindsay Estes bunted down the third baseline for what should have been an easy third out at the plate. Junior third baseman Sarah Taylor fielded the ball, but in the ensuing pickle, dropped the ball at third to let in the unearned run.
After the Jumbos' failed to score in the bottom of the sixth and Bailey struck out the side in the top of the seventh, the stage was set for Lopez.
Singles by freshmen speedsters Roni Herbst and Samantha Kuhles put runners on first and second and Lopez, who had now already gone deep twice in the game, smashed a pitch over the fence to win the game for Tufts.
"I was just doing my job the best I could," said Lopez, "I never try to hit home runs; I just swing for solid contact and hope for the best."
Bailey, supported by Lopez's offensive performance, had a solid day on the mound, going the distance while giving up just a single earned run. Her 12 strikeouts nearly matched her total on the season and included the three big ones in the top of the seventh that swung the momentum back to Tufts.
Backing up Bailey was a standout defensive performance from freshman Maya Ripecky, who made two diving catches in right field. The first, in the top of the fourth, kept two runs from scoring and preserved the one-run Tufts lead.
"Defense always helps a pitcher," said Bailey. "Great defense can really pick someone up."
The final-inning heroics of the second game followed a fairly comfortable Tufts 10-5 win in the opener, though it was certainly not the Jumbos' prettiest game this year.
A mangled first inning set the tone early. With two runners on base, freshman Cara Hovhanessian's single turned into an inning-ending double play, as junior Annie Ross was thrown out at home trying to score from second, and Bridgewater sophomore catcher Lindsay Allison caught Lopez in a rundown between second and third.
The Jumbos' base-running woes, which have accounted for lost runs and easy outs all season, continued in the fifth, when Lopez was called out on an attempted steal for leaving while the ball was in the pitcher's circle.
And while only two Tufts errors were recorded in the stat book, defensive miscues and miscommunications gave away some bases and set up some dangerous situations, like the one that loaded the bases for the Bears in the fifth with one out. Senior hurler Julia Brenta turned in two of her six strikeouts to hold Bridgewater to one run.
"As a young team we're going to make mistakes, but we just don't want one to turn into two, or two to turn into three," Milligan said. "I'm happy we won. We had enough solid offense and defense to withstand a few errors, and we always say, 'to bend, but not to break.'"
The Jumbos overcame these mistakes and a scoreless first three innings by putting together ten runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. The team's firepower centered around Lopez, who was 3-for-4 in the game, Hovhanessian, who turned in a 3-for-3 performance with a walk, and sophomore catcher Megan Cusick, who went 2-for-4 for the game with three RBI.
The Jumbos were down 3-0 early as Brenta struggled with her control, hitting two batters and walking one in the first two innings. She settled in, however, coming up with two big strikeouts in the fifth and another in the seventh. She pitched all seven innings, giving up six hits and four earned runs to move to an even 2-2 on the season.
Tufts' main rally occurred in the fourth, as consecutive singles by Lopez, Hovhanessian and Bailey, an RBI double from Cusick, and an RBI groundout from senior co-captain Jess Barrett gave the Jumbos a 4-3 lead. Bridgewater pulled even in the top of the fifth off sophomore Danielle Trull-Donahue's RBI single, but the tie did not last for long, as Tufts scored three in both the fifth and the sixth innings to put the game out of reach.
Lopez' incredible power hitting and a few brilliant plays from the Tufts field were enough to pull out two wins and keep the team's momentum alive. Bailey's description of her own pitching performance - not her most consistent or most un-hittable, but bolstered by some spectacular at-bats - sums up the entire team's performance in the doubleheader.
"I actually felt better [in the 4-1 win over] Williams [on Sunday], but if they want to swing at my junk, that's great," Bailey said.
