Courtesy Harvard/Tufts Sports Information

Box Score

MEDFORD, Mass. - Stefanie Tong (Burlingame, Calif.) and Lauren Ebstein (Chicago, Ill.) combined on a three-hit shutout Sunday as Tufts University defeated Trinity College, 5-0, to win the 2007 NESCAC Softball Championship at Spicer Field. The title gives Tufts a conference-record fourth championship since post-season tournament play began in 2001. It is the Jumbos first conference title sine 2003.

Tufts (28-11) receives the NESCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Softball Championship, their ninth national tournament berth overall. Trinity (22-11) will await a possible at-large berth to the tournament.

Tufts jumped on top with a run in the bottom of the first. Sophomore 3B Samantha Kuhles (Somerville, N.J.) led off with a bunt single and moved to third on consecutive wild pitches before coming home on a groundout by sophomore LF Roni Herbst (Montclair, N.J.).

The Jumbos added a run in the fourth to make the score 2-0. First-year 1B Christy Tinker (Woodbridge, Conn.) and sophomore RF Maya Ripecky (Chicago, Ill.) put together consecutive singles through the left side with one out. Junior catcher Megan Cusick (Albany, N.Y.) then laced a 1-1 pitch to the wall down the left field line, scoring pinch runner Audra Buckley (Lynnfield, Mass.). The inning came to an end however as Laura Chapman (Seattle, Wash.) grounded out to first and Ripecky got doubled off trying to score from third.

Tong started the game for Tufts and held Trinity to two hits before being forced from the game in the fifth after injuring her leg delivering a pitch to the first batter of the inning. Ebstein relieved Tong and worked her way out of a bases-loaded jam with a pair of ground outs after the Bantams had loaded the bases with one out on a walk and two errors.

In the top of the sixth, Trinity threatened again as a walk and an error put runners on base with none out. Ebstein again worked out of trouble, striking out the next three batters to record the first three punch-outs of the game for Tufts' pitchers.

Tufts opened up the game in the bottom of the frame, scoring three unearned runs for a 5-0 lead. A leadoff error hurt Trinity as first-year 1B Casey Sullivan (Berlin, Conn.), Tinker and Ripecky all delivered two-out RBI singles.

2007 NESCAC SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 1 - Friday, May 4 at Tufts
Game 1 - at E1 Tufts 11, W2 Wesleyan 2 - 5 inn
Game 2 - vs. W1 Williams 5, E2 Trinity 3
Day 2 - Saturday, May 5 at Tufts
Game 3 - E2 Trinity 8, vs. W2 Wesleyan 5
Game 4 - E1 Tufts 5, vs. W1 Williams 3
Game 5 - vs. E2 Trinity 7, W1 Williams 5
Day 3 - Sunday, May 6 at Tufts
Game 6 - at E1 Tufts 5, E2 Trinity 0