SEGUIN, TX (March 20, 2026) – The 17th-ranked Tufts University softball team went head-to-head with third-ranked Texas Lutheran University on Friday and split a very competitive double-header in Texas.
In a pair of different games, the Bulldogs (21-3) won a defensively-oriented opener 3-1 before Tufts (11-3) built a big lead and held on to win an offensive nightcap 7-6. Head coach
Lauren Ebstein's Jumbos finished their spring break trip to Texas with a 6-2 mark.
Game 1 – Texas Lutheran 3, Tufts 1
TLU had three of their six hits in the game and scored twice in the bottom of the first. Caelee Clark led off with a single and stole second, and then Riley Davila did the same. Serena Gonzalez doubled home two runs and it was 2-0 quickly.
Tufts responded and cut the lead in half in the top of the second.
Lauryn Horita was hit by a pitch, then
Cat Kawabe singled.
Taylor Hurst followed with a run-scoring double closing the gap to 2-1.
The game was largely a pitcher's duel between Tufts'
Avery Kanouse and TLU's Jordyn Joy. The score stayed 2-1 until the sixth, after Tufts'
Ella Malin caught a fly ball and threw out Clark trying to score in the bottom of the fifth.
The Bulldogs were able to add a run in the bottom of the sixth to lead 3-1. Harleigh Russell doubled with one out and then stole third. She would score on a Tufts error during a bunt.
Kawabe (2 for 3 in the game) singled with one out in the top of the seventh for Tufts, but Joy was able to close out the victory for the Bulldogs.
Both Joy and Kanouse went the distance and allowed six hits. Only two of the three runs Kanouse allowed were earned.
Clark and Davila were both 2 for 3 with a run for Texas Lutheran.
Game 2 – Tufts 7, Texas Lutheran 6
Unlike game one, the teams each had 11 hits in game two and slugged it out before the Jumbos were able to earn the split.
Tufts scored three times in the first and third innings to take a 6-1 lead. They scored the three runs in the first after two were out, with an rbi base hit by Kawabe and a two-run single from Horita. In the third,
Paige Murphy homered after
Heaven Oliva had led off with a double.
Mack Seibel then hit a two-out rbi single and Tufts was up big early.
In between, TLU had scored its first run in the bottom of the second. With one out and runners on second and third, Chesley Swisher's bunt single scored a run, but the Jumbos were able to catch a second runner trying to score at the plate.
The Bulldogs would get two more back in the bottom of the third to close within 6-3 as Natalie Pacheco smacked a two-run home run. Tufts answered that with Kawabe's solo home run to lead off the fifth making it a 7-3 game.
TLU pulled to within a run by scoring once in the fifth and twice in the sixth. After Ashley McMahon reached by error, she would score on a double-steal before Tufts was able to make the out in the middle. Pacheco then came up big again with a two-run double in the sixth and it was a 7-6 game. However, the Jumbos would cut down the potential tying run at the plate on another double play by Malin, who caught a fly and threw out Serena Gonzalez trying to score.
The Jumbos would strand the bases loaded in the top of the seventh. They went to
Fallon O'Connor out of the bullpen in the bottom of the seventh. Making her first appearance of the season, O'Connor got a pair of ground outs and then after a walk Tufts ended the game with
Heaven Oliva throwing out Brey Jones stealing.
Seven pitchers were used between the two teams.
Francesca Colangelo picked up the win in relief for Tufts after throwing four innings allowing five hits and three runs (two earned). Jordyn Stuessy (1 IP, 4 H, 3 R) took the loss for the Bulldogs.
Murphy (3 for 4, two runs, two rbis) and Kawabe (2 for 3, three runs, two rbis) led Tufts offensively. Pacheco was 3 for 4 with four rbis for TLU, while McMahon and Swisher both had two hits.
Next
Tufts will be idle until opening NESCAC play on the road at Wesleyan University on March 28.
--JUMBOS--
