Softball Beats Wellesley, Drops One-Run Decision to No. 12 WPI to Open NEWMAC Tournament

**WORCESTER, Mass.—**Seven different players drove in a run as fourth-seeded Babson College defeated fifth-seeded Wellesley College 9-3 in its opening game of the day before suffering a 6-5 loss to top-seeded and 12th-ranked WPI on day one of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament on Tuesday at Rooftop Field.

The Beavers (20-22) and Wellesley (20-14) will both play elimination games on Friday at Springfield, while WPI (39-2) is one of two unbeaten teams left in the tournament along with second-seeded MIT.

Game 2: Babson 9, Wellesley 3

Junior

Lexi Sealey (Pleasant Hill, Calif.) was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, senior

Sophia Pak (New Rochelle, N.Y.) singled twice and drove in a run, and junior

** **Charlotte Raymond (Wrentham, Mass.) doubled and knocked in a pair of runs to lead the Beavers. Classmate

Emily Walsh (Flemington, N.J.) walked twice and finished with an RBI and two runs scored in support of fellow junior

Katie Vlacich (Concord, N.H.), who struck out six and scattered six hits while allowing just one earned run in a complete-game effort to improve to 7-10 with the victory.

The Green and White took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Walsh worked a five-pitch walk, stole second, moved to third on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore

** **Belle DiCampello (Pottstown, Pa.) before busting the game open with a six-run second. The first five batters reached as junior

Devin McCall (Virginia Beach, Va.) brought home Pak with a double to left, Walsh worked a bases-loaded walk to force in sophomore

Samantha Skivo (Conshohocken, Pa.) and classmate

Maddy DeLong (Cranford, N.J.) followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.

Sealey ripped a single back up the middle to score Walsh and both Pak, thanks to an RBI knock, and Skivo, who was plunked with the bases loaded, drove in runs with two outs extending the Babson lead to 7-0. Wellesley got an RBI double from junior Anisa Rodriguez (La Quinta, Calif.) and took advantage of a two-out throwing error to cut its deficit to 7-3 in the top of the fourth, but the Beavers answered with back-to-back hits by Sealey and DiCampello to begin the bottom of the inning and got a two-run double from Raymond to regain a six-run advantage.

Vlacich got a pop-up double play to end the fifth and retired the final six batters she faced after giving up a lead-off single in the sixth to close out the win.

Junior Jill Colgan (Las Vegas, Nev.) was tagged with the loss for the Blue and dropped to 7-4 on the year after allowing five runs, four of them earned, on three hits and two walks in an inning-plus.

Game 4: WPI 6, Babson 5

Raymond went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, Skivo was 2-for-4 with an RBI double and senior

** **Allie Cubberly (Lagrangeville, N.Y.) singled and drove in a pair of runs for the Beavers. Pak also singled, walked and scored twice, while first-year

** **Anna Topel (Oak Park, Ill.) went the distance in the circle, striking out four and allowing six runs to slip to 6-7 on the year.

Junior Virginia McKinney (Larchmont, N.Y.) went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, senior Emma Nagy (Monroe, Wash.) was 2-for-3 with a solo homer and junior Sandy Fairbairn (Norton, Mass.) hit a two-run shot for the Engineers. First-year Abby Merchant (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) gave up just one hit over 2.2 innings of shutout relief to improve to 23-0 in the circle with the victory.

WPI jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning but Pak scored on Cubberly's infield single in the second and Raymond hit a two-run homer to left in the third to tie the game. The hosts went back in front on Nagy's solo shot to leadoff the bottom of the third before Babson tied the game on Skivo's RBI double down the left field line and then went ahead 5-4 when Pak raced home on Cubberly's sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth.

The Engineers wasted no time responding as McKinney led off the bottom of the inning with an infield single and Fairbairn smashed a two-run homer to left center to go back in front for good. Merchant retired the side in order in the sixth and then worked around a leadoff single by Raymond in the top of the seventh to close out the one-run win.

Babson will seventh-seeded Coast Guard in an elimination game at 12 p.m. on Friday in Springfield, Mass.

GAME NOTES

• The Beavers are now 33-18 all-time against Wellesley, which includes a 6-5 mark in the conference playoffs, and are 7-8 in NEWMAC Tournament play and 44-40 all-time versus WPI.

• With its victory over Wellesley, Babson has opened NEWMAC Tournament play with a win in 10 consecutive seasons going back to 2016.

• Skivo extend her hitting streak to six games on Tuesday, while Raymond has now knocked in at least one run in nine of Babson's last 11 games.

• Cubberly has two or more RBI in four of her last eight starts.