Looking back (April 6) | Softball 9, Wellesley 1
For six innings, the regional showdown between the nationally ranked No. 23 softball team and No. 13 Wellesley lived up to the billing. Two juniors, Lauren Gelmetti of the Jumbos and Beej Grundlock of the Blue, were locked into a pitchers' duel, and neither side seemed ready to wilt, combining for 14 strikeouts through the first six frames.
Then, the seventh inning rolled around.
That's when Tufts' bats exploded, chasing Grundlock and turning a scoreless tie into a whitewashing. After being held to one hit through the first six innings, the Jumbos sent 14 batters to the plate in the seventh and tallied nine runs on six hits. The biggest blow came courtesy of junior right fielder Maya Ripecky, who socked a three-run home run to left field and built the Tufts lead to 4-0.
Gelmetti yielded a run in the home half of the seventh, the only earned run she has allowed in her last four outings, but settled down in time to finish off the complete game six-hitter. The 2007 First Team All-NESCAC selection wasn't always sharp, putting runners on base every inning, but she made the big pitch when needed. Facing a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the bottom of the sixth, Gelmetti mowed down Wellesley's six, seven and eight hitters to preserve the scoreless tie.
The victory over the Blue, coupled with a doubleheader sweep of Babson on Tuesday, have the Jumbos on a season-high eight-game winning streak heading into weekend games against Colby, Wheaton and Western Conn.
Looking ahead (April 10-13) | The Masters
The first major golf championship of the year tees off today when the Masters Tournament gets underway in Augusta, Ga.
Despite the deep field of 94 golfers, the focus will be on Tiger Woods as he continues his run at Jack Nicklaus' record 18 major championships. Augusta's length suits Woods' style of play, and he's won the tournament four times. In addition, the tournament holds sentimental value for Woods, as his 1997 victory marked his first win in a major.
The 32-year-old has had a blistering start to his 2008 campaign, winning three out of the four PGA events in which he has competed and nine of 11 worldwide since August. Woods is gunning for his 14th major championship.
Last year, Zach Johnson came out of relative obscurity to capture the green jacket after holding off a charging Woods in the final round. Ranked 56th in the world entering the tournament, Johnson finished with a one-over-par 289, tying for the highest score by a winner in Masters history. The Iowa native's victory was also the first by a member outside the final group since 1990.
Other players expected to be contenders at the 2008 edition of the Masters include Phil Mickelson, who won the tournament in 2004 and 2006, and Geoff Ogilvy, the fifth-ranked player in the world who won at the WGC-CA Championships in Doral, Fla. in March.
