Wellesley Softball Clinches NEWMAC Regular Season Title; Blue Sweep MIT

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Wellesley College softball team clinched the 2014 NEWMAC Regular Season Championship, with a sweep on the road at MIT on Saturday. The Blue took game one, 15-4, and then won game two, 2-1.

Wellesley improves to 24-9 overall, 15-3 in the NEWMAC with the wins. The Blue have now clinched the #1 seed in the upcoming NEWMAC playoffs. MIT falls to 8-18 overall, 5-1 in the NEWMAC with the losses. 

The Blue pounded out 16 total hits in game one, and got a solid pitching performance from Lindsay Johnson to wrap up the victory. Seniors Jennifer Migliore and Jayne Ellis, and first-year Ashtyn Coleman all recorded three-hit games, while Migliore and first-year Anna Pisac each drove in four runs in the win.

MIT jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, with all their scoring coming in the bottom of the second.  A three RBI double from Monica Shifflet got things started for the Engineers, while Natalie Shifflet drove in the fourth run of the inning with another double.

Wellesley began to chip away, scoring one in the top of the third on an RBI double from Ashtyn Coleman, and then took the lead with five in the top of the fourth. Pisac began the scoring with a sacrifice fly, before Migliore and Coleman each drove in a pair of runs. Migliore's RBIs came on a single, while Coleman tripled in her runs.

The scoring wasn't done for the Blue, as Wellesley added three in the top of the fifth and six in the top of sixth, dispatching MIT in six innings. In the fifth, a Pisac triple plated three runs, while Migliore drove in another on a single. In the sixth, Ellis recorded three RBI on a triple, while Pisac also tripled, driving in one. Wrapping up the Blue scoring, Migliore added another RBI single, while junior Mariah Philips added an RBI groundout. 

Johnson got the six-inning victory, allowing three earned runs on five hits with three strikeouts, earning her 14th win of the season.

In game two, lead-off home runs from Ashtyn Coleman in the first and senior Emilyrose Havrilla in the second, proved to be all the offense the Blue would need, as Johnson kept MIT at bay. 

Leading 2-0 in the sixth inning, Wellesley surrendered a run to MIT after a miscue allowed a lead-off double to cross the plate. Wellesley escaped the jam with a strikeout to end the inning and Johnson worked around a single in the seventh to seal the win.

Aside from Coleman and Havrilla's solo home runs, Wellesley's offense was paced by two-hit games from Migliore and junior Maria LaBouyer. 

Johnson grabbed her 15th win of the season, throwing seven innings and scattering six hits. The senior did not allow an earned run, and struck out three, which included her 300th career strikeout. She now moves into third place for Wellesley all-time with 301 strikeouts, behind only Jenna Harvey '08 (741) and Barbarajean Grundlock '09 (404). 

Wellesley will now await results from around to league to see who the Blue will host in the NEWMAC Tournament. The event begins on Friday, April 25th, with the #1 and #2 seeds each hosting two games. Wellesley will then take over host responsibilities for four games on Saturday.