New London, CT --- Another doubleheader and another spilt decision for the WPI softball team, who came away with a game two 4-1 victory after falling 1-0 in game one at Coast Guard on Friday afternoon.  

A 2-for-4 outing from Sydney Russell (Arlington, VA), accompanied by a pair of runs scored from Jocelyn Diaz (Reedley, CA) helped WPI (8-12, 2-2 NEWMAC) to split the series with the Bears (14-4, 2-2) in their weekend opening doubleheader. 

Sophia Togneri (Hudson, MA) was again embattled in a pitchers duel with Coast Guard's Isabelle Shroyer (Marysville, OH) as both hurlers went the distance pitching the entirety of the game, though Shroyer and the Bears were able to eke out the victory. In game two, Emma Nagy (Monroe, WA) earned the win while Kelly Pritchard (Orange, CT) earned her first save of the year.  

GAME ONE 

In a mirror image of the Engineers last time out, Togneri locked down allowing just six hits over the course of the game, but it was again a sixth inning shot to centerfield that was the deciding factor in the game.  

In this bout, Christine Carey (San Diego, CA) started off the sixth with a single to right field and eventually came around to score on a double to center from Lillia Farlow (Carrollton, TX) in the 1-0 victory.  

Meg Sherwood (Norfolk, MA), who stepped in as a pinch runner, stole second and made her way to third on a passed ball in the seventh inning with no outs, but was unable to make it home, getting thrown out trying to sneak in on an infield grounder to end the threat. 

GAME TWO 

The Engineers were the first to strike in game two putting up all four of their runs in the third inning of action. Mirroring the seventh inning of game one, Liz Jordan (Yardley, PA) started the inning off with a single to left, stole second and moved up to third on a passed ball. But this time she crossed the plate with Russell at bat as her single to right made it a 1-0 game.  

An error by Coast Guard in the next at bat got runners on first and second for WPI and a Destiny Lum (Kahaluʻu, HI) sacrifice fly moved Russell and Lindsay Ambrosino (Chelmsford, MA) up another base. Alicia Salvalzo (Hudson, NH) loaded the bases and with two outs on the board a single from Diaz drove in two, followed by a double from Nagy to help her cause and gain a 4-0 lead early on.  

Coast Guard snuck one across the plate in the fourth inning as a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded got one across but that was all she wrote for the Bears as a pitching change in the fifth shut down Coast Guard for the remainder of the game as Pritchard allowed no hits and struck out a pair to earn the save.  

UP NEXT

WPI's full weekend continues with a Saturday doubleheader at Wheaton beginning at Noon. Coast Guard continues ita weekend of games at Emerson on Saturday afternoon with their doubleheader beginning at 1:30pm.