Courtesy Williams Sports Information

Box Score

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Williams College softball team rallied from a four-run deficit Sunday to edge Tufts University, 6-5, in the championship game of the 2006 NESCAC Tournament. It is the Ephs third consecutive NESCAC title.

The win was the 19th straight for Williams, which sets a new school record for consecutive wins, breaking the old record of 18 it shared with the 1996 and 2004 teams. The Ephs improved to 29-8 and earn the conference's automatic berth for the Division III NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA Tournament New England Regional will begin Thursday, at a site to be determined.
Tufts, which also lost to Williams 1-0 Saturday, fell to 26-14.

Trailing 5-1 Sunday, Williams began to rally in the third. Senior Laura Noel doubled, but was still on second with two outs. First-year Libby Copeland-Halperin stung a two-out, RBI-double to center field to make it 5-2. Then, on a two-strike pitch, junior Katelyn Knox hit a soaring fly ball to center which cleared the fence for a two-run homer.

Down 5-4 entering the fourth, Williams strung together another two-out rally. With two outs and nobody on, Noel crushed a 3-2 pitch from Tufts starter Sarah Conroy over the fence in right-center field for a solo home run that tied the game at 5-all.

Tufts went to first-year Lauren Gelmetti at that point, and Eph senior Alana Frost greeted her with a single and then stole second base on a bang-bang play. Eph senior Christine Williams then lined a shot toward left field that glanced off the tip of Jumbo shortstop Heather Kleinberger's outstretched glove. Frost scored on the double and Williams had its first lead at 6-5.

All six runs for Williams came with two outs.

The Jumbos threatened to tie the game in the top of the sixth when Cara Hovhanessian drew a lead-off walk from Eph ace Clara Hard. She was sacrificed to second by Mara Dodson and moved to third on a bloop single over first base by Maya Ripecky. Ripceky stole second. Kleinberger then hit a hard comebacker to Hard in the circle, but the hurler's quick toss home to Knox caught Hovhanessian in a rundown and Eph third baseman Christine Williams eventually tagged her out. Hard then induced Megan Cusick to ground out to second for the third out.

Tufts went down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh.

Hard picked up the win for Williams, improving to 13-3. She allowed five hits and five runs, two earned, while walking two and striking out three. Despite allowing only one run and two hits over 2 1/3 innings, Gelmetti took the loss.

Hovhanessian was 1 for 1 with two RBIs for the Jumbos, while Danielle Lopez went 1 for 3 with an RBI and two runs scored. For Williams, Frost and Noel were 2 for 3 each.

The game was the highest scoring championship game (11 total runs) in NESCAC Tournament history, surpassing Tufts' 8-2 win over Bowdoin in 2001.

2006 NESCAC SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 1 - Friday, May 5 at Williams
Game 1 - W1 Williams 6, E2 Trinity 4
Game 2 - E1 Tufts 4, W2 Amherst 3

Day 2 - Saturday, May 6 at Williams
Game 3 - E2 Trinity 4, W2 Amherst 3
Game 4 - W1 Williams 1, E1 Tufts 0
Game 5 - E1 Tufts 13, E2 Trinity 8

Day 3 - Sunday, May 7 at Williams
Game 6 - W1 Williams 6, E1 Tufts 5