Softball Swept by Fourth ranked Tufts

MEDFORD, Mass. - Junior Allyson Fournier pitched the fourth perfect game of her Tufts career as the #4 Jumbo softball team won a pair of games against visiting Bridgewater State University on a cold Thursday afternoon at Spicer Field.

Tufts won 2-0 in the opener as Fournier struck out 15. The Jumbos then had 11 hits and took advantage of five Bears' errors in the second game for a 12-4 final in six innings.

With the wins, Tufts has won nine in a row and improves to 23-3 overall. Bridgewater State had won seven of eight coming in, but drop to 19-11 with the pair of defeats.

Fournier's perfect game was helped by a nice running catch in left field from Jumbo senior Sara Hedtler against BSU senior catcher Jill Welch. Otherwise, Fournier was dominant. The perfect game was her first since May 2012. The no-hitter is the ninth of her career. The shutout is her seventh this season.

Bridgewater State starter Amber White allowed just one earned run on six hits. Tufts scored its first run in the fourth after freshman DP Cassie Ruscz led off with an infield single. Following a sacrifice by junior 2B Gracie Marshall, back-to-back singles up the middle by freshman 1B Summer Horowitz and junior 3B Bri Keenan brought in the run.

Junior CF Michelle Cooprider scored the other Tufts run after leading off the fifth with a single through the left side. When she eventually moved over to third on a ground out, she scored on an errant throw as the Bears tried to catch her off third.

Horowitz continued to wield a hot bat for the Jumbos, going 2 for 3 in game one.

Tufts built a 10-1 lead through three innings in game two. Senior catcher Jo Clair had a pair of doubles, scored three times and drove in two runs during the first three innings. Marshall was 3 for 3 with three rbis and a run in that span. Cooprider had two hits, a walk and scored twice, Horowitz had three rbis and Ruscz scored twice in the first three frames. Five of the runs were unearned.

Tufts senior pitcher Lauren Giglio was the beneficiary. Through four innings, she had given up only one run. The Bears had four singles off her in the third, including one by junior SS Jocelyn Bettencourt who eventually scored on another base hit by first-year 3B Tara McCann.

The Bears were momentarily able to avoid a mercy-rule defeat by scoring three times after two were out in the fifth. Freshman 2B Courtney Leddy and Welch walked, Bettencourt advanced both a base with a sacrifile and then junior DP Jessica Laudati dropped a two-run single into shallow center. She eventually scored on a Tufts error making it a 10-4 game.

The Jumbos would eventually get a mercy-rule win as freshman 3B Shelby Lipson hit her first collegiate home run to left-center scoring two and ending the game in the bottom of the sixth.

Giglio earned her 10th win, allowing six hits and four runs (three earned) with six strikeouts and five walks in six innings.

Welch was 2 for 2 for Bridgewater State. Starter Iliana Rivera took the loss, giving up five hits and five runs (three earned) in 1.2 innings.