Springfield Hands Blue Softball Loss in NEWMAC Tournament

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Springfield's Ashley Marino won her sixth straight decision by hurling her #2-seeded Pride team to a 6-1 victory over #3-seeded Wellesley in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Softball Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.

Except for a slight hiccup in the first inning, Marino was masterful in allowing just one run on three hits in seven innings. The run was unearned. She also struck out six, walked just one, and is now 11-6 on the season.

For Wellesley, sophomore Lauren Goldfarb pitched six innings, allowing seven hits and six runs, all earned. She walked four, struck out five, and is now 8-7 on the campaign.

Wellesley produced its only run in the first. The Blue loaded the bases with no one out, on singles from Goldfarb and Megan Townsend, and a walk from Jayne Ellis. But it appeared Marino was going to escape when the next two batters popped out. However, the Blue's Mara Blesoff reached on an error, scoring Goldfarb, giving the Blue the 1-0 advantage.

Springfield quikly tied it up, as Kasey Kelly homered to left center to lead off the bottom of the inning. The Pride then tacked on two runs each in the third and fifth innings, and added another in the bottom of the sixth.

Marino, meanwhile, shut Wellesley down, allowing just one more hit, a single from Blesoff, the rest of the way.

The tournament now moves on to Coast Guard on Friday. In the first game of the day, Babson, the #4-seed, will play Wellesley at 2 pm. At the same time, Clark will play Wheaton, the #5 seed. Later on, at 4:30 pm, the two unbeaten teams, Coast Guard and Springfield, will square off and face each other.