Softball Stuns Maryville 10-9 in 7th Inning Comeback Spurred by Error

CLERMONT, Fla. – In one of the more improbable Jumbo victories, a fly ball that would have been the final out was dropped by a Maryville College outfielder for an error that helped the Tufts softball team come from behind for a 10-9 victory over the Scots on Thursday afternoon.

Kristina Haghdan earned the win with scoreless relief work

In a crazy back-and-forth game that saw five lead changes, the Jumbos improved to 7-2 during their Florida trip. Tufts had 12 hits, including three by sophomore 3B Jamie Stevens (2 rbis) and two each from junior DH Kristen Caporelli (2 rbis), senior catcher Sarah Finnigan (2 rbis) and senior SS Sara Willner-Giwerc (3 runs).

Maryville fell to 17-8 with the loss. Taylor Campbell and Alexus Murray both had three hits for the Scots, while Morgan Brewer finished with three rbis.

Tufts trailed 9-8 entering the top of the seventh. Willner-Giwerc doubled with one out, putting the potential tying run on second. However, after a fly out to right , Caporelli hit another ball in the air to right and it looked as though the Jumbos would lose. However, the ball was dropped allowing Willner-Giwerc to score the tying run. Stevens followed with an rbi single scoring Caporelli with the go-ahead run as the Jumbos took a 10-9 lead.

The unusual inning continued as Tufts was unable to add upon its lead when a single to center by Raven Fournier resulted in the center fielder overthrowing the catcher. Stevens scored, but was called out after Tufts was judged to have interfered with the catcher on the play. However, the one run lead would be enough as Tufts freshman pitcher Kristina Haghdan closed out the victory in the bottom of the seventh.

A two-run single by Finnigan had put Tufts up 2-0 in the first. The Scots surged to a 5-2 advantage through three innings with Campbell singling and scoring in both the second and third frames. The Jumbos grabbed the lead (6-5) with four in the fourth, as both Willner-Giwerc and senior 2B Samantha Siciliano singled home a run and scored in the inning. The Scots went back on top (9-6) with four in the bottom of the fourth on a pair of two-run singles by Brewer and Campbell. Tufts closed the gap to 9-8 with two unearned runs in the fifth, courtesy of a sac fly by Siciliano and a single by Caporelli.

Haghdan was outstanding in relief for Tufts, earning the win with 3.2 shutout innings allowing two hits with five K's and no walks. Siciliano added two runs and two rbis to the Jumbo offense. Junior CF Isabel Smokelin scored twice.

Nicole Blackburn had the pitching loss for Maryville, allowing five hits and four unearned runs in three innings of work out of the bullpen. Essence Strambler scored twice for the Scots.