| Gracie Marshall had three
RBIs as the Tufts designated player. Texas-Tyler athletics photo by Ryan Coleman |
Tufts scored in four of the first five innings and cruised to a 6-0 win over the Texas-Tyler Patriots. Out hit by Texas-Tyler, the Jumbos took advantage of three Patriot errors.
While Tufts was putting runs on the scoreboard, they kept the powerful Patriot batters off balance.
"We felt if we can get a lead, our pitching will pull through for us," said Tufts head coach Cheryl Mulligan.
"You have to give their pitchers a lot of credit," said Texas-Tyler head coach Mike Reed.
Tuft started their run scoring skein in the second. Emily Beincke singled and was advanced to second when Jo Clair was hit by a pitch. Beincke took third on a fly ball and scored on Gracie Marshall's scarifice.
"It is our motto to win every inning," said Marshall. "We played the small game well, we put bunts sow, we moved runners over with sac flies, so mover over runners and scoreed runs when you could
The Jumbos scored in the third when Brianna Keenan doubled in Christina Raso. Rasso drove in her run in the fourth when she and Sara Hedtler made the score 4-0.
Beincke doubled to lead off the fifth. A walk to Kristina Parr and an error filled the bases for Marshall whose batted ball skidded off the gloves of two infielders to score Tufts final two runs.
With their six-run regional final comeback in mind, Texas-Tyler tried to mount a rally in the seventh.
"We are never out of the game," said senior All-American Joey Cronin. "There is no deficit that we cannot overcome as long as we are able to execute."
The Patriots were able to get two runners but that was all Tufts would allow.