While it is a common cliché to say that "softball is a game of inches," those watching Tufts' Monday afternoon game against Trinity saw just how true the saying really is.
Down 1-0 to the Bantams in the bottom of the fifth, Tufts senior right fielder Stefanie Tong stepped up to the plate with a runner on third and one out. Finding a pitch in her zone, she went after it, getting slightly under it. The ball towered down the left-field line, finally coming down squarely on top of the fence. It caromed off the wall's apex before safely continuing over, giving the Jumbos a 2-1 lead that they would not relinquish, and along with it the inside track to the NESCAC East title.
"I wasn't looking for that pitch, but it was a higher pitch so I just pulled the trigger," Tong said. "I was looking outside because that's where she was all day. I didn't think it was going to go out, but I could feel it was a well-hit ball."
The 2-1 Tufts victory capped off an exciting three-game set between the two squads that featured three games decided by a total of three runs. Trinity had taken the first game a week ago, 6-5, with the Jumbos responding later that day 3-2. Due to rain, the rubber match was put off a week, but the game was well worth the wait.
The pitching matchup was a duel between the winning pitchers in each game of the doubleheader. Tufts went with veteran junior Izzie Santone, who had given up only one earned run in eight innings the week before, while Trinity countered with sophomore Katherine Poulos.
The early innings of the game were a series of missed opportunities on both sides. Trinity put two runners on with one out in the top of the first before a ripped line drive flew right into the glove of freshman second baseman Emily Beinecke, who flipped to first for the double play.
"It kept them from scoring a run in the first inning, which was huge," said Santone of the double play. "If they can set that tone, they have the advantage. It turned the game in our favor."
Meanwhile, in the bottom of the second, the Jumbos loaded the bases with only one out after a single, a hit batter and an error by Poulos herself. But after a strikeout and a groundout, Poulos was able to escape the inning unscathed.
The two teams combined for six hits in the first three frames, but could not seem to breakthrough. Then in the top of the fourth, Trinity finally had that break through. With one out, junior Bantams co-captain Nicole Nardella laced a line drive to deep centerfield. Sophomore centerfielder Lizzy Iuppa gave chase, but was not able to get to it. The ball slammed off the wall, as did Iuppa with almost as much force. She bounced back up, but Nardella had already cruised into second with a double.
"I thought it was going out too," Santone said. "The wind definitely helped on that one. It may have been going out of it wasn't for that."
Santone struck out the next Bantams hitter, but would not be so lucky against freshman first baseman Kerry McCarthy. McCarthy got just enough of a pitch, dropping it in front of the charging Iuppa. Nardella came around to score, and the Bantams had the lead.
In the bottom of the inning, junior catcher Julia Silberman led off with a double, as the Jumbos looked to bounce back instantaneously. But with Santone coming to the plate, Tufts coach Cheryl Milligan chose not to bunt the runner over. Santone popped out to right, and while the Jumbos did load the bases with a pair of walks, Poulos was once again able to escape.
"Coach had said to the team, ‘prepare to see a bunt signal,'" Santone said. "I was definitely mentally prepared to go up and bunt. But when she gave me the hit away signal I was ready for that too. The ball just didn't go as far as I wanted it too."
After senior captain Casey Sullivan led off the bottom of the fifth by dropping a bloop double right on the left field line, the Jumbos switched strategies, this time bunting her over to third with one out. But it would not matter, as Tong's home run would have driven in Sullivan either way.
Trinity threatened one last time in the top of sixth, putting runners on the corners with two outs. Senior outfielder Erika Klotz put a slow roller on the ground but Sullivan made the play look easy, charging the ball and firing to first. The Bantams then went down complacently 1-2-3 in the seventh.
Santone was something of a magician in the delayed series, the most recent game of which was postponed from April 18, going 2-0 with a 0.93 ERA in the series despite surrendering 17 hits. The Bantams threatened almost constantly, but never seemed to break through.
With the win, the Jumbos now control their destiny in the NESCAC East. A sweep of Colby this weekend would give them their sixth straight regular season title. But it is no time to relax, as a single loss could drop them into a three way tie with Trinity and Bowdoin, putting their postseason life in jeopardy.
"A lot of it is just energy," Santone said. "We need to remember that the Colby games are equally important. If we lose three times to Colby we are in just as much trouble. We have shown that we can lose to those kinds of teams. If we keep up our energy right from the beginning, we can definitely get the job done."
