The St. John Fisher College softball team could only generate two hits against Tufts University on Friday, as the Cardinals dropped their first game of the NCAA Willimantic Regional by a 3-0 score.  Fisher (34-13) will now play at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday against Empire 8 Conference foe Ithaca College, as both teams are competing for their survival. 

Both the Cardinals and the Bombers have lost one game at the double-elimination tournament, and the loser of Saturday's game will head back to New York State.  The winner will face the victor of No. 3 Rochester and the top-seeded host Eastern Connecticut State at 6:30 p.m. that same day.

The Cardinals were kept of the board by Tufts (38-5) pitcher Allyson Fournier who struck out 14 Fisher batters in the game.  Fournier currently leads the nation in strikeouts per seven innings and hits allowed per game.  The pitcher improves to 20-1 on the season with the win.

Carissa Carlson and Megan Zoerb were the only two who could muster hits off of Fournier, as Carlson hit a shallow single to left field in the first inning and Zoerb started the sixth off with a triple.  However, three-straight Fisher outs stranded Zoerb, the Cardinals' only runner in scoring position.

Tufts scored one run in the third, fourth and fifth innings as the Jumbos first broke ground by taking a 1-0 lead after the third inning.  With two outs of the board, Lizzy Iuppa was able to single to get on base and then advanced to second on a wild pitch.  Tufts next batter, Jo Clair, was able to hit a two-out double to bring Iuppa across home plate.    

In the fourth, a Fisher error with a runner at second cost the Cardinals.  The Jumbos took a 2-0 lead after a shot up the middle hit off of Kelly Jones' glove and into center field, allowing Emily Beinecke to score the unearned run.

Clair came through for the Jumbos again in the fifth inning, as she hit her second double of the game to bring in Tufts third and final run of the day.  The first-pitch hit was sent into the left field gap, scoring Sara Hedtler from first to give Tufts the 3-0 advantage.

Danielle Leone (18-5) pitched a complete game for the Cardinals, as she scattered seven hits and struck out four without surrendering a walk.