Game #1: WPI 2, Babson 1
Game #2: Babson 2, WPI0

Game #1 Box Score
Game #2 Box Score     

Babson Park, Mass. - WPI kept its hopes for a NEWMAC Tournament bid alive with a doubleheader split on Saturday at Babson.  WPI started the day with a 2-1 win in game one before dropping the nightcap, 2-0. With the split, WPI is now 12-21 and 4-10 in the NEWMAC, while Babson is now 19-19 overall and 8-8 in league play.
 
Both games were pitchers' duels, beginning with game one's matchup between WPI first-year Allie Hardy (Townsend, Mass.) and Babson junior Danielle Liska (Seymour, Conn.). Hardy went seven innings and allowed just one unearned run on three hits, while Liska also went the distance giving up two unearned runs on three hits, walking one and striking out 13.
 
Babson broke through first against Hardy in the third, as three WPI errors allowed first-year Nicole Latini (East Bridgewater, Mass.) to cross the plate with the game's first run. The Beavers then held the 1-0 advantage until the top of the sixth, when sophomore Sarah Johnson (Eastham, Mass.) reached on an error to start the inning and senior captain Nicole Maglione (Charlton, Mass.) followed with a single. After both runners were sacrificed into scoring position, a passed ball allowed Johnson to scamper home with the tying run. Liska then registered a key strikeout for the inning's second out, but senior captain Sara Migdal (Galway, N.J.) blooped an 0-2 offering over the shortstop's head and into left for a clutch RBI-single. That gave the Engineers a 2-1 edge, and Hardy stranded the tying run at second in the sixth and third in the final inning to clinch the one-run victory.
 
With the win, Hardy improved to 9-5 on the season, while the loss temporarily dropped Liska's record to 12-8. Babson sophomore Jess Winer (Longmeadow, Mass.) was the game's lone player with multiple hits, as she finished 2-for-3 in defeat.
 
Liska returned to the mound in game two and continued to dazzle, as she fired a two-hit shutout, walking two and striking out four. Her counterpart, WPI sophomore Lindsay Brown (Westfield, N.J.), also pitched well in defeat, giving up two runs - only one of which was earned - on four hits, walking three and fanning three.
 
The Beavers broke through with an unearned run in the bottom of the first, as first-year Lisa Wojnar (Bellaire, Texas) reached with a bunt single and later scored on a two-out error. Babson then added another run in the bottom of the sixth, as first-year Jess Pashos (Winchester, Mass.) led off with a walk, moved to second on a groundout by Latini, took third on a groundout by Winer, and scored when first-year Annie Dursema (Yarmouth, Maine) beat out a clutch infield single.
 
That would be more than enough for Liska, who retired the final nine batters that she faced to secure her fourth shutout of the season. The win bumped her record to 13-8, while the setback dropped Brown's mark to 1-8.

WPI will face MIT in a doubleheader on Monday, its final NEWMAC games of the season. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00pm. A doubleheader sweep by the Engineers would allow them to remain in contention for the final bid in next week's NEWMAC Tournament, with tiebreakers potentially coming into play to decide the tournament's last participant.

Major portions of release courtesy Babson College Sports Information