Tufts Rallies to Beat Amherst in Softball Championship
Courtesy Williams Sports Information
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Tufts University softball team rallied from a three-run deficit Friday to beat Amherst with an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh inning 4-3 in the second game of the 2006 NESCAC Softball Tournament.
Tufts (25-12) will face Williams (27-8) at 12:30 p.m. in a winner's bracket game of the double-elimination tournament. Amherst (18-11) will battle Trinity (22-9) in an elimination game Saturday morning at 10.
Tufts' first-year Laura Chapman beat out infield single to shortstop leading off the bottom of the seventh with the game tied at three. She was sacrificed to second by Samantha Kuhles and tagged up as Danielle Lopez flew out to right field. The throw from right was errant, and Chapman raced all the way home with the winning run.
Amherst took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second on an RBI-single from Annalise Rodli, an RBI-double by Lindsey Harrington and an RBI-single from Laura Trigeiro.
The Jumbos responded with two runs in the bottom of the second. Sophomore Heather Kleinberger blasted a two-run home run that scored Megan Cusick, who had doubled. Tufts tied the game with a run in the bottom of the fourth when Maya Ripecky smacked a home run to left. Sarah Conroy was the winner, allowing six hits and three walks while striking out five. Miya Warner took the loss, allowing eight hits and four runs, three earned. She did not walk a batter and struck out seven.
