Wellesley, MA --- The WPI softball team split a pair of games with Wellesley College on Saturday afternoon as the Engineers took game one 2-1 before the Blue earned a 2-1 victory of its own after eight innings of action. 
 
WPI (8-9-1, 3-3 NEWMAC) persevered in game one, holding off Wellesley (11-11, 4-4) who had the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh to hang on for the victory. But the Blue answered with an extra inning victory in game two to split the weekend series. 
 
Naomi Boldebuck (Billerica, MA) got the start in game one pitching 6.2 innings, allowing the one earned run and just four hits and netting her second win of the year. Shaina Lazarus (Thousand Oaks, CA) picked up the save after earning the final out of the game, her second in 2024. Lazarus went the distance in game two finishing with 7.1 innings of action, allowing just five hits and one earned run while striking out three. 
 
Game One
The Engineers eked out a 2-1 victory in game one with the game winner coming off of a Sydney Russell (Arlington, VA) double in the fifth inning. Wellesley put up a fight in the seventh inning, finally getting on the board, but with the bases loaded, and two outs, Lazarus stepped in and saved the game for WPI. 
 
WPI was the first to strike in the fourth inning. After Emma Nagy (Monroe, WA) started things off with a single to center, Riley O'Brien (Wynantskill, NY) followed by reaching on a throwing error by the Blue which allowed Nagy to move all the way up to third. 
 
Destiny Lum (Kahalu'u, HI) stepped in and grounded out to second base, bringing home Nagy for the first run of the game. 
 
In the fifth, the Engineers added another run to the total. Virginia McKinney (Larchmont, NY) started things off with a single to center, moving to second on a sacrifice bunt from Kate Gagne (Portsmouth, NH) and came around to score one batter later thanks to Russell's double. 
 
Wellesley was able to load the bases in the seventh, but after Lazarus allowed the Blue's first run of the game, she came through getting the final out of the game on a great catch by Russell in center to seal the win. 
 
Game Two
Game Two started off with a bang when Nagy came through in the top of the first with a two-out homer to left centerfield, her fourth of the season, putting WPI up 1-0 early on. 
 
It took until the fifth inning before Wellesley was able to even things up at one-apiece taking advantage of a WPI miscue to get their lone run of the day on the board. 
 
The Engineers had the bases loaded in the sixth inning looking to take the lead, but were unable to push a run across setting up for some extra inning action. It took until the eighth inning as Wellesley used a sacrifice fly to score the game winner. 
 
Next Up
WPI returns to the diamond on Sunday, April 14 when it returns home to host Springfield College in a doubleheader that will kick off at 1 pm. Wellesley will also return to action on April 14 with a home doubleheader against Coast Guard beginning at Noon.