Game 2 – Babson 10, Smith 2 (5 innings)

Graduate student Michaela Russell (Boston, Mass.) had two hits, scored two runs and knocked in a pair, and classmate Cassidy Musco (Walpole, Mass.) had two hits and scored once in the victory. Fellow grad student Kate Karamouzis (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) reached base three times with a hit and two walks, junior Sara Moore (Kennett Square, Pa.) reached twice, stole a pair of bases and scored two runs, and first-year Jackie Paglieri (Upper Saddle River, N.J.) singled, stole a base, scored a run and knocked in another.

O'Reilly started in the circle and struck out five batters in two hitless innings before Katie Vlacich (Concord, N.H.) came on for the final three innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out three to earn the victory (10-9).

First-year Bailey Gray (Missouri City, Texas) had two hits, including a home run, and knocked in both runs for the Pioneers. Senior CeCe Alaniz (Bakersfield, Calif.) walked three times and juniors Taylor Ang (San Diego, Calif.) and Piper Corey (Phoenix, Ariz.) each singled as Smith mustered just four hits. Senior Lucy Helms (Alameda, Calif.) started in the circle but didn't get out of the first inning and suffered the loss (4-7).

The Beavers took control early on with five runs in the bottom of the first inning on just one hit. After Moore was hit by a pitch to lead off and Russell and Karamouzis walked to load the bases, Moore scored on a wild pitch and Russell came home on an infield grounder. The Pioneers made a pitching change and Raymond greeted the new pitcher with a towering three-run home run to left field. It was Raymond's second home run of the season and just the third round-tripper this season for the Beavers.

The Green and White tacked on a pair of runs in the second inning as Karamouzis singled to right to bring in one run and another scored on an error by the Smith outfielder. With a 7-0 lead, Babson brought in Vlacich in the third inning and Gray greeted her with a home run to left to put the Pioneers on the board.

Babson kept the runs coming with three more in the bottom of the third. Paglieri knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly and two more runs came home on an infield single by Russell. Smith managed its second run in the top of the fourth on Gray's RBI single to center.

Game 3- MIT 6, WPI 2 

No. 3 MIT scored five unanswered runs in a 6-2 victory over No.6 WPI in the opening round of the double elimination NEWMAC Softball Tournament on Tuesday afternoon at Wheaton. The Cambridge Engineers (25-12) advance in the winner's bracket to play #2 Wheaton at 4:30pm. WPI (21-18-1) will play #5 Smith on Friday at 10am at Springfield.
 
MIT's Caroline Langmeyer (Upper Arlington, OH) improved to 16-4 with the victory. She went all seven innings, allowing two runs on four hits with five walks and nine strikeouts. Kaitlyn Barr (Grosse Pointe Woods, MI) (5-4) suffered the loss for WPI, throwing 2.1 innings, and allowing four runs on eight hits. Shaina Lazarus (Thousand Oaks, CA) threw 3.2 innings in relief, allowing two runs (none earned) on two hits.
 
WPI's Riley O'Brien (Wynantskill, NY) drove in the only two runs for the Crimson and Gray, while Virginia McKinney (Larchmont, NY) collected a pair of hits in the loss. Emma Nagy (Monroe, WA) added a hit, while Sydney Russell (Arlington, VA) worked two walks.
 
MIT's offense saw both Kennedy Adkison (San Jose, Calif.) and Arianna Kumar (San Diego, Calif.) drive in two runs. Nicole Johnston (St. Charles, Ill.) recorded three hits, while Olivia Scarpaci (Staten Island, N.Y.) drove in a run.
 
MIT struck first in the bottom of the first inning. Johnston and Mackenzie Bivin (San Diego, Calif.) each collected infield singles, setting up Adkison who singled in Johnston for the first run of the game.
 
WPI answered with two in the top of the third to take a 2-1 lead. Russell led off with a walk before O'Briend launched a two-run shot to left field, her eighth of the season.
 
MIT answered in the bottom of the frame, regaining the advantage with three runs. Singles from Mikayla Cable (Valrico, Fla.) and Johnston started the inning, before Kumar drove in the tying run on another base hit. Atkinson followed with an RBI single of her own before Scarpaci doubled to bring in the third run of the inning to make it 4-2.
 
MIT pushed two more across in the bottom of the fourth inning, pushing it to 6-2. An error and a Cable single set up a sac fly from Kumar, before Cable stole home to put the Cambridge squad up four.
 
WPI loaded the bases in the top of the sixth with two outs, as a McKinney single, an error, and a walk put the tying run at the plate. However, a strikeout ended the threat for MIT.
 
In the top of the seventh, Langmeyer got the first two batters of the frame on a strike out and foul out, and then worked around an error to force a ground-out to end the game.

Game 4 – Babson 1, Springfield 0

The Beavers got six hits from six different players, none bigger than sophomore Sophia Pak's (New Rochelle, N.Y.) two-out RBI single to left in the sixth inning for what proved to be the game-winning run. That scored sophomore Allie Cubberly (Lagrangeville, N.Y.), who pinch ran for Karamouzis after she drew a leadoff walk.

Sophomore Amelia DeRosa (Miller Place, N.Y.) and seniors Lucy Puskas (Roxbury, Conn.) and Michaela Ponticello (Gloversville, N.Y.) each singled for the Pride. DeRosa went the distance in the circle, allowing just one run on six hits, but suffered the loss to fall to 14-6.

With Cubberly on first in the sixth inning, junior Athena Hadjipanayis (Rye, N.Y.) moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt, and Cubberly moved over to third when Raymond grounded out to first, setting up Pak's dramatic RBI single to left.

After retiring the first nine batters she faced, O'Reilly got out of jams after putting two runners on in each of the next three innings. She walked two in the fourth but ended the inning with back-to-back strikeouts; an infield error and infield single put two on the fifth but O'Reilly induced a pop-up and a fly out to retire the side; and Springfield put two aboard with a single and a walk in the sixth before O'Reilly got a fly to left to end the inning.

O'Reilly helped herself in the seventh after a leadoff single, the only hit to the outfield all game for the Pride. She snared a liner right back at her and doubled up the runner at first before a line drive to third was caught by Russell to close out the win for the Beavers.

Smith and Springfield will play elimination games on Friday at 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. while the Beavers will play third-seeded MIT in the winners' side of the bracket at 4 p.m.

Game 5- MIT 4, Wheaton 1 

Sophomore starting pitcher Caroline Langmeyer (Upper Arlington, Ohio) gave up just one run on five hits and senior first base Mackenzie Relihan (Naperville, Ill.) knocked in two runs to lead the third-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology softball team to a 4-1 comeback win over host number two seed Wheaton College (Mass.) today in the second round of the NEWMAC Conference Championship Tournament at Clark Softball Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass. 

The Engineers have won four straight games and improve to 26-12 on the season, while the Lyons dip to 22-16. MIT advanced to play Wheaton after defeating number six seed Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 6-2, earlier in the day in Norton.

The Engineers will play number four seed Babson College, a 1-0 winner over top-seeded Springfield College, on Friday, May 10 at 4:00 p.m. in Springfield, Mass., while Wheaton plays tournament host Springfield at 12:00 p.m. in an elimination game.

MIT collected eight hits in the game, but also took advantage of three costly errors by the Lyons. Wheaton opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first, before the Engineers scored twice in the fourth and added two more runs in the sixth.

Langmeyer went the distance to improve to 17-4 for MIT after allowing one walk and striking out three in seven complete innings. Relihan was 1-3 for the game, while first year shortstop Arianna Kumar (San Diego, Calif.) was 2-4 with two runs scored. Junior right fielder Kennedy Adkison (San Jose, Calif.) contributed going 1-3 with a run batted in and a run scored. 

Junior left fielder Juliette Zito (Woodbridge, Conn.) led the Lyons, reaching base three times with two singles and a walk in three plate appearances, while senior third base Bryanna Agan (Averill Park, N.Y.) was 1-3 with a double and an RBI. Senior starting pitcher Sofia Knopf (Norton, Mass.) was saddled with the loss to drop to 11-6 after allowing four runs (one earned) on eight hits and two walks to go with a pair of strikeouts in seven innings of work.

The Engineers erased a 1-0 deficit with a pair of runs in the fourth to take a 2-1 edge. The first five batters of the inning all reached for the visitors. First year left fielder Nicole Johnston (St. Charles, Ill.) and Kumar sandwiched singles to center field around a walk issued to junior second base Mackenzie Bivin (San Diego, Calif.) to load the bases with no outs. Adkison hit a ground ball to shortstop, but the ball was mishandled and went into center field with Johnston scoring on the play. MIT looked to force the issue on the same play with Bivin attempting to score as well, but Zito threw a strike to the plate to cut down the potential run. Senior designated player Katia Pendowski (Elk Grove Village, Ill.) later hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Kumar with the second run of the game for the Engineers.

MIT added two insurance runs in the sixth inning to increase its margin to 4-1. Kumar reached base on an infield error, before Adkison and sophomore catcher Olivia Scarpaci (Staten Island, N.Y.) followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases. Relihan delivered a two-out single through the left side to plate both Adkison and Scarpaci to give the Engineers a three-run lead with six outs left for Wheaton.

The Lyons looked to rally in the seventh when senior shortstop Lindsey Oliveira (Westport, Mass.) laced a lead-off single through the left side and later advanced to third with two outs, but Langmeyer induced a fly out to end the contest. 

Wheaton got on the board first with a run in the opening frame to take a 1-0 edge. Zito ripped a single through the left side and later scored when Agan belted a double over the center fielder’s head to give the Lyons their only lead of the day. 

About the NEWMAC

The NEWMAC is an association of 12 selective academic institutions: Babson College, Clark University, U.S Coast Guard Academy, Emerson College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mount Holyoke College, Salve Regina University, Smith College, Springfield College, Wellesley College, Wheaton College, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, that are committed to providing high quality competitive athletic opportunities for student-athletes within an educational and respectful environment that embodies the NCAA Division III Philosophy. The conference also partners with four Associate Members: Norwich University (Football), Simmons College (Rowing), SUNY Maritime College (Football), and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Football), while sponsoring 20 sports.