#1 Wellesley Shuts Out #4 Springfield in NEWMAC Softball Tournament

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Wellesley College's Lindsay Johnson pitched a three-hit shut-out to lead the top-seeded Blue to a 3-0 victory over fourth-seeded Springfield College in the third game of the 2014 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Softball Tournament at Wellesley.

The win advances the Blue in the winners bracket, giving Wellesley a 2:00pm match-up with second-seeded Wheaton College tomorrow at Wellesley. Springfield will now play Smith College at 12:00pm in an elimination game. 

Johnson threw all seven innings for the Blue, allowing just three total hits to move to 16-6 on the season. The senior struck out a pair and walked one, not allowing a batter to reach second base all game. Johnson also sat down the lead-off hitter in each inning and had a stellar infield defense behind her.

Wellesley put up a three spot in the bottom of the fourth, stringing together a hit by pitch and four singles for all offensive support Johnson needed. After a pop-out, Maria LaBouyer singled and Jayne Ellis was hit by a pitch putting runners on first and second with one out. Emilyrose Havrilla followed with a single to right center that was deep enough to score LaBouyer. A stolen base and another pop-out put runners on second and third with two outs before an infield single from Jennifer Migliore plated the second Wellesley run of the inning. Mariah Philips added a single through the left side, making it 3-0 Wellesley before Springfield retired the last batter of the inning to limit the damage. 

From that point in it was all Johnson, as the pitcher retired nine of the next 11 Springfield hitters to seal the victory.

Wellesley's offense was paced by a 2-for-2 performance from Philips, who also drove in a run for the Blue. Havrilla and Migliore also contributed RBI for Wellesley in the win. 

Springfield's offense was limited to a pair of hits from Nelson and one from Catie Holik. In the circle, Ashley Marino got the start, throwing four innings, allowing three runs on five hits, earning the loss. Jennifer Joseph came on in relief, throwing two scoreless, hitless innings with one strikeout.

The 2014 NEWMAC Tournament continues tomorrow at Wellesley with four games scheduled. #5 Babson and #3 WPI will face off in game one at 10:00am to kick-off the action.