Minneola, FL --- Katie Bumila (Raynham, MA) drove in the game-winning run in the top of the seventh as the WPI softball team defeated North Park 4-3 and then came up a run short (2-1) against Bethany on Thursday at the NTC Spring Games.

The 1pm matinee saw the Engineers (6-2) take a 3-0 lead after two. Kristin Gallagher (Coventry, RI) used an RBI single to put the Engineers in front 1-0 in the top of the first. Hope Shevchuk (Burlington, CT) scored when she teamed with Julia Ring (Leominster, MA) to execute a double steal in the second. Ring later scored when Ama Biney (Worcester, MA) reached courtesy of an infield miscue.

North Park (1-6) began to chip away with a run in the second and later in the fifth. A home run tied it up in the sixth. After Gallagher doubled to lead off the seventh, Ashlyn Bedard (Hampstead, NH) singled to put runners on the corners. The stage was now set for Bumila to enter the game as a pinch hitter and deliver the heroics.

Casey Arpin (Uxbridge, MA) started her first collegiate game while Clare Doolin (Newton, MA) picked up the decision. Gallagher and Nina Murphy-Cook (Roseville, CA), meanwhile, accounted for a quartet of the Engineers nine hits. Both Gallagher and Shevchuk registered a double in the win.

Bethany (5-5) scored on a two-out RBI single in the first. The game remained 1-0 until Bethany added one more in the fifth. WPI broke through with a Bumila RBI double to right center in the sixth. The final two frames saw the Engineers hold a 3-1 advantage in hits and 1-2-3 innings.

Kelsey Saucier (Worcester, MA) and Caroline Medino (Pompton Lakes, NJ) combined to strike out six for the Crimson and Gray. Jacquelyne DiTroia (Andover, MA) went 2-for-3 for the Engineers.

WPI closes its Florida slate with a 9am game against Thiel and an 11am meeting with New England College in Clermont on Friday.