Standout Pitcher From South Windsor Elected To Tufts Hall Of Fame

MEDFORD, MA —Allyson Fournier received dozens of accolades during her tenure at Tufts University as one of the most outstanding college softball pitchers of all time. Now, seven years after her "retirement" from competitive sports and thriving in her chosen field of chemical research, the South Windsor native is adding yet another laurel to her amazing athletic accomplishments.

Now known as Allyson Caron since her 2021 marriage to Jeff Caron, the 29-year-old has been elected to the Tufts University Athletics Hall of Fame. She and her fellow members of the fourth class of honorees will be inducted June 9 at a dinner at Gillette Stadium.

A 2011 graduate of East Catholic High School, she emerged as a budding superstar in her senior year with the Eagles, striking out 353 batters in 160 innings with a 0.26 earned run average while leading the team to the Class M semifinals. That was just a prelude to an incredible 4-year stint at Tufts, where she led the Jumbos to three straight NCAA Division III national championships from 2013 to 2015. She posted a career record of 111-5 with a 0.44 earned run average, including 35-0 with a miniscule 0.20 ERA in her senior year, when the team completed an unprecedented perfect 51-0 national championship season.

"It was the perfect ending to my college career and was truly a team effort, supported by the entire Tufts community," Caron told Patch.

Tufts coach Cheryl Milligan said, "Allyson was a fierce competitor on the mound, a humble teammate in the locker room, and a workaholic on the practice field. It is no coincidence that these attributes led to such a tremendous career. She was a huge part of our team and fit into our culture seamlessly by being the kind of kid who makes a coach proud and fellow teammates better, all the while maintaining an unassuming air. We could not have achieved our team success without her."

The 4-time NFCA first team All-American and 4-time NESCAC Pitcher of the Year holds NCAA D-III records with 44 consecutive victories, 105 straight scoreless innings, 16 career no-hitters and a .957 winning percentage. In 2015, she earned the Honda D-III Athlete of the Year award at THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards in Los Angeles for the second time; she also received the honor in 2013.

She was recipient of the Hank O'Donnell Female Athlete of the Year Award from the Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance in 2015, shortly before signing with the Pennsylvania Rebellion of National Pro Fastpitch, the only professional women’s softball league in the country. She was the first non-Division I athlete to compete in the circuit.

Caron's pro softball days were short-lived, however, as she opted to begin her professional career. In Oct. 2015, she was hired at MilliporeSigma, a leading life science firm in Bedford, Mass.

Her father, Ed Fournier, told Patch, "We are proud of all that she has accomplished on and off the field. Her unwavering mental toughness is what it takes to succeed in sports, but more importantly in life. A willingness to never settle for being good or great, but pushing oneself to test your limits of what's possible. That's what Allyson did on the field, but more importantly, we're even prouder of the things she continues to do off the field, pushing herself in the field of chemical research to find breakthrough discoveries for the next generation."

In 2020, Caron was cited as D-III Softball Player of the Decade of the 2010s by Justin's World of Softball, a leading national website devoted to the sport.

"I most enjoyed the competitiveness of facing a batter on the mound and my time spent with teammates, who remain my best friends today," she said. "My softball experiences exceeded all expectations and made me into the person I am today. I do miss being on the mound for sure, but I think I have been able to put a lot of that focus into my career."