WORCESTER, Mass. – Second-seeded and No. 25 MIT fell to top-seeded and No. 12 WPI, 7-6 in a thrilling 10 innings in the Championship Bracket of the NEWMAC Softball Tournament on Saturday afternoon at Rooftop Field. The teams will play tomorrow for the NEWMAC Tournament Championship. 

THE BASICS:  

• Score: WPI 7, MIT 6 
• Records: No. 25 MIT (33-8 Overall), No. 12 WPI (41-3 Overall) 

HOW IT HAPPENED: 

• MIT jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. Layla Thiessen singled to third and a double from Ava Ladd put two runners in scoring position. Arianna Kumar hit a sacrifice fly to plate Thiessen and Poe doubled home Ladd to make it 2-0. 
• WPI quickly answered in the bottom of the inning on a two-run homer from Sandy Fairbairn. 
• On a 1-2 count, Maggie Feng put MIT back on top with her second homer of the year in the second.  
• With two outs in the third, Lauren Sundquist doubled to left and scored to make it a two-run MIT lead on a single from Olivia Scarpaci.  
• Emily Watson retired WPI in order in both the third and fourth innings, with a double play by Ladd off the bat of Ali Chalovich ending the fourth. 
• Poe increased the MIT lead to 5-2 with a sacrifice fly in the fourth. 
• Stella Kozak walked with one out in the fifth Elizabeth Jordan singled with two outs to bring up Lucy Latour who homered to right to tie the game. 
• A two-out double from Poe put two runners in scoring position for MIT in the eighth, but WPI was able to escape and keep the game tied.  
• In the ninth, WPI got back-to-back two out singles but Sharona Huang got Meg Sherwood to pop out to a ranging Feng to end the inning. 
• MIT took the lead in the tenth as Ladd singled home Benevides who was placed on second to begin the inning. WPI then scored Meg Sherwood on a Lator single and Lator raced home with the winning run on a Sandy Fairbairn single to center.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:  

• Watson went the first 4.2 innings for MIT, allowing five runs on three hits with two walks and a strikeout. Huang fell to 15-4 as she threw five innings of four hit ball, surrendering two runs (one earned) with one walk. 
• Ladd finished 3-4 with an RBI while Poe went 3-5 with two RBI. Thiessen and Scarpaci finished with two hits each. 
• Latour and Fairbairn each finished with two hits in the game.  

UP NEXT:  

• MIT and WPI will a play a winner-take-all game for the NEWMAC Championship tomorrow, Sunday, May 10 at 1:00 PM on Rooftop Field with the winner earning the NEWMAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. 
• The last time MIT played in a winner-takes-all game was in 2022 against WPI as the two teams have combined to win the last four NEWMAC Championships, with MIT taking the last three.   

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