Siciliano's Home Run Leads to 3-1 Softball Victory over Bowdoin

MEDFORD – Senior 2B Samantha Siciliano launched a two-run home run to center field in the bottom of the fifth inning giving the Tufts softball team a 3-1 victory over Bowdoin College in the Jumbos' home and NESCAC East Division opener Friday afternoon at Spicer Field.

Emma Della Volpe hit an opposite-field double to tie the game

The Jumbos improved to 12-4 overall, while Bowdoin – only playing its NESCAC East Division opener - dropped to 13-4. The teams will play a double-header at Spicer tomorrow starting at noon.

Bowdoin starting pitcher Kate Hoadley was cruising through four innings, allowing just one Tufts hit. The Polar Bears led 1-0 thanks to a one-out home run by senior 2B Lauren O'Shea in the first inning. The fly ball over the wall in left was O'Shea's third of the season.

Tufts would overtake Bowdoin in the fifth. Senior catcher Sarah Finnigan led off with a walk. She took second on a ground ball and then scored when freshman LF Emma Della Volpe doubled to the fence in right-center tying the game. Siciliano followed with her first home run in almost exactly two years to put Tufts in front 3-1. She last homered versus Bowdoin also at home on April 1, 2016 during her sophomore season.

Jumbo freshman pitcher Kristi Van Meter earned her sixth win of the early-season with a complete game allowing four hits and the run with six K's and no walks. Aside from O'Shea's home run, she only allowed one other Polar Bear to reach second base.

Likewise, Hoadley was good for Bowdoin other than one inning. She dropped to 4-2 allowing four hits and the three runs with two walks in six innings.

The Bowdoin infield was sharp throughout the contest. Tufts' Raven Fournier was hit by a pitch for the host's first base runner in the second, but she was erased with a textbook 4-6-3 double play. Hoadley got 12 of her outs on the ground in the game.

Senior catcher Claire McCarthy was the only player on either side with two hits, as the teams had just four each.

The Jumbos made two errors that started innings, but Finnigan threw out the first on an attempted steal and Van Meter retired the side after the second miscue in the seventh.