Rocky Mount, NC - In the final games of its spring break trip, the WPI softball team brought home a victory from a doubleheader with North Carolina Wesleyan on Sunday afternoon. 
 
The Engineers (1-3-1) routed the Battling Bishops (6-4) in game one, putting up a season high 13 runs in a 13-5 victory to pick up their first win of the season, but despite the two teams getting through four innings of game two, they hit the curfew for WPI's time needed for commercial airline departure. NC Wesleyan was leading 8-3 after four innings. 
 
Kaitlyn Barr (Grosse Pointe Woods, MI), Kelly Pritchard (Orange, CT) and Emma Nagy (Monroe, WA) all saw action in the victory with Barr coming away with the win. She pitched the first 3.2 innings of action allowing six hits and two runs while striking out three. Pritchard stepped into the game in relief of Barr in the fourth, shutting down the NC Wesleyan offense before allowing a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Nagy closed out the game allowing just one hit and one run in the win.
 
Nagy, Callie Allison (Milford, OH) and Meg Sherwood (Norfolk, MA) finished the game with three hits apiece as the Engineers combined for 16 hits in the game. Nagy finished with a 3-for-5 outing driving in a run and scoring a pair. Allison was 3-for-4 in the game, scoring three times and Sherwood also went 3-for-5 with a run driven in. 
 
Sydney Russell (Arlington, VA) finished the game with five steals. Only 31 other Division III players have had at least five steals in 2024. 
 
Game One
WPI put a pair of runs on the board early when Riley O'Brien (Wynantskill, NY) roped a double to left centerfield, bringing home Allison and Russell. Russell, from the leadoff slot walked to start the game and stole both second and third and Allison reached via a free pass before crossing the plate one batter later. 
 
Neither team scored for the next few innings before NC Wesleyan evened the score at two-all in the fourth inning. But WPI responded with a handful of runs in the top of the fifth inning as Russell once again started things off, singling to center and stealing second. Alex Sheehan (Marion, MA) drove her home with a single up the middle, moving up to second on the throw. 
 
Nagy followed with a double to left, driving home Sheehan, moved to third on an Allison single, and scored on an O'Brien single down the leftfield line. With runners on second and third, Destiny Lum (Kahalu'u, HI) popped up to second base which resulted in a sac fly as Nagy scored on the play. Shaina Lazarus (Thousand Oaks, CA) made it a 7-2 game by grounding out to shortstop and bringing home O'Brien.
 
In the next inning, WPI added another four runs to the total as Russell started things off once again with a single and a pair of steals, scoring on a Sheehan sacrifice bunt. Virginia McKinney (Larchmont, NY), Allison, and O'Brien all scored as well that inning to make it a 11-2 game. 
 
The Battling Bishops added two runs in the bottom half of the frame, but WPI added two in the top of the seventh as Sandy Fairbairn (Norton, MA) drove in a pair to gain a nine-run advantage. NC Wesleyan added a run in the bottom half of the inning but it was not enough as WPI came away with the victory. 
 
Game Two
North Carolina Wesleyan bounced back in game two putting three runs on the board in the top of the first, but Russell got back to her speedy ways, singling, stealing and scoring to make it 3-1 after one. 
 
In the third inning, the Battling Bishops put five runs on the board to take an 8-1 edge, but WPI earned back a pair of runs utilizing an NC Wesleyan error to put two runs on the board on a single to shortstop from Sherwood.
 
But following the fourth inning, the curfew went into effect, suspending the game with NC Wesleyan in the lead 8-3. If the two teams are to reconvene this year, they would pick up in the fifth inning of action. 
 
Next Up
WPI starts its Northeast venture on Tuesday, March 19 when the Engineers square off against Johnson & Wales in the team's home opener starting at 3:30 pm. NC Wesleyan will return to the field with a doubleheader against Guilford at home beginning at 2 pm on Wednesday, March 13.