THE BASICS:

- Scores:
Game 1: MIT - 4, Babson - 1
Game 2: MIT - 3, WPI- 2

- Records: MIT (30-15), Babson (35-8), WPI (29-14)

- Location: Babson Park, Mass. (Alumni Field)

- The Lead: The MIT softball team remained alive in the 2022 NEWMAC Tournament with two thrilling victories on Saturday afternoon. The Engineers defeated host and top-seed Babson with a come-from-behind win in the first game to eliminate the Beavers and followed with a thrilling one-run win over WPI to force a decisive winner-take-all game tomorrow afternoon.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED – Game One vs. Babson

- The Beavers jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead as Molly Hennessy singled down the right-field line to plate Isabel Aguliar.
 
- Senior Anya Chase (Wells, Maine) helped herself in the third as she took the Moira O'Reilly pitch over the right-field wall in the third to tie the game.
 
- The Beavers put two runners in scoring position with one out in the fourth, but Chase got Abrianna Natoli to pop a bunt up to sophomore catcher Rylie Spiegel (Bradenton, Fla.) who fired down to third to pick the runner off and end the Babson threat.
 
- MIT took the lead in the sixth on a single by first-year Mikayla Cable (Valrico, Fla.), and a sacrifice fly by sophomore Mackenzie Relihan (Naperville, Ill.) made it a 3-1 Engineer lead. First-year Dana Bell (Bensalem, Pa.) followed with an RBI single to put MIT up three.
 
- First-year Becca O'Connor (San Antonio, Texas) retired Babson in order in the sixth and seventh innings to keep the Engineers' season alive.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 
-  Chase improved to 15-8 on the year as she scattered six hits and allowed just one run over six innings of work. She also went 2-4 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored. O'Connor earned her third save as she pitched two perfect innings with three Ks.
 
- Bell went 2-3 at the plate and knocked in her 26th run of the season.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED – Game Two vs. WPI

- An RBI fielder's choice from first-year Mackenzie Bivin (San Diego, Calif.) put MIT up in the third. Cable followed with a two-RBI single to center to make it a three-run game.
 
- After four perfect innings, WPI got to O'Connor in the fifth, as the first four batters of the inning all reached base. A double scored the first run of the day for WPI and a bunt single made it a one-run game. MIT got a force at home for the first out of the inning and O'Connor got a lineout and strikeout to end the WPI threat and keep MIT in the lead.
 
- MIT looked to add some insurance runs in the top of the sixth but left the bases loaded. WPI put two runners on in the bottom of the inning with two outs but were unable to get the tying run across.
 
- WPI got a one-out double from Stephanie Bishop in the bottom of the seventh and she advanced to third on a groundout, but O'Connor got Alex Sheehan looking to seal the 3-2 win and force a decisive game 11 tomorrow afternoon.  
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 
- With the win MIT, has won 30 games for the third-straight season and the fourth time in the last five years.
 
- O'Connor moves to 11-4 as she allowed just four hits and two runs, both unearned. She walked two and struck out six.
 
- First-year Kennedy Adkison (San Jose, Calif.), Cable and sophomore Katia Pendowski (Elk Grove Village, Ill.) all recorded two hits for MIT while Cable led the way with two RBI.

UP NEXT:

- MIT and WPI will return to the field tomorrow at 1 p.m. to crown a NEWMAC Champion and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
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