MEDFORD, MA — Senior 1B Lena Cantone stroked an opposite field RBI-double with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, and sophomore pitcher Rebecca DiBiase finished off four no-hit innings of relief with a 1-2-3 seventh, as the Tufts softball team won 3-2 over Williams College in the first game of the 2011 NESCAC Championship on Friday afternoon at Spicer Field.
Tufts (22-16) will play Middlebury in game four of the NESCAC Tournament on Saturday at 12:30 pm. Middlebury was a 2-1 winner over Trinity in Friday's other game. Williams (20-17-1) will face Trinity in an elimination game on Satudray at 10 am. Play continues through Sunday to determine the 2011 NESCAC champion.
Tufts and Williams twice traded runs for a 2-2 tie heading into the late innings. Williams first year CF Ali Graebner launched a home run to left-center in the top of the first to put Williams ahead 1-0. The Jumbos got it right back in the bottom of the inning on a leadoff single from junior CF Lizzy Iuppa, a sacrifice bunt by junior SS Mira Lieman-Sifry and an rbi single up the middle by sophomore 2B Emily Beinecke.
Williams intentionally walked Beinecke in the third to load the bases with two outs, but Ephs senior pitcher Mary Beth Daub was able to get the third out on a soft liner back to the mound.
The Ephs edged ahead 2-1 in the fourth after first year LF Ally Ensor led off with a drive to the base of the wall in left-center for a double. She moved to third on a walk and a sacrifice bunt and then scored on a wild pitch. However, Tufts matched the Ephs again with an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth. First year 3B Katherine Darveau dropped down a perfect bunt single and scored with the help of two Williams errors to make it 2-2.
After two were out in the Jumbo sixth, Lieman-Sifry singled to center field and came all the way around to score on Cantone's double. DiBiase, who had come on in relief in the fourth, retired the final 11 Williams batters to record the victory.
Tufts left 10 runners on base in the game after outhitting Williams 8-4, reaching on three Eph errors and earning three walks. Cantone, NESCAC's leading hitter, was the only Jumbo with multiple hits with a 2 for 4 game.
Ensor was 2 for 3 for Williams. Daub pitched all six innigs for Williams, allowing eight hits and two earned runs with three walks and a strikeout.
"I thought Mary Beth threw an excellent game, but we made two errors that cost us two runs and that was it," Ephs' head coach Kris Herman said.
(Courtesy Tufts Sports Information)
