WORCESTER -- After trouncing Amherst 10-1 in a run rule first game of the afternoon, the WPI softball team fell in game two for a mid-week, non-conference doubleheader split with Amherst on Wednesday afternoon at Rooftop Field.
 
It only took five innings for the Engineers (18-11) to defeat Amherst (15-14) in game one as Naomi Boldebuck (Billerica, MA) and Kaitlyn Barr (Grosse Pointe Woods, MI) combined for the no-hitter. A pair of five-run innings by the Mammoths in game two was the deciding factor in the 11-5 victory. 
 
Boldebuck earned her 11th win of the year with a no-hit, one run outing pitching four innings and finishing with four strikeouts. Barr came in to close things out in the fifth, shutting down the side en route to the win. In the second game of the day, Sofia Knopf (Plymouth, MA) was the pitcher on record, allowing five runs off of five hits while striking out three while Barr added another 2.1 innings of work giving up eight hits and six runs. 
 
Lucy Latour (North Dighton, MA) was 1-for-1 in the outing, netting her second roundtripper of the year, driving in three runs and scoring another pair. Virginia McKinney (Larchmont, NY) added a perfect 3-for-3 outing, scoring three runs and driving in two while Mia Francisco (Hudson, NH) and Meg Sherwood (Norfolk, MA) each scored a pair of runs in the outing. WPI combined for another 11 hits in game two, paced by Destiny Lum's (Kahalu'u, HI) three-hit outing as she drove in a pair and scored another in the game. 
 
GAME ONE
Amherst got on the board in the top of the first inning, playing some small ball to utilize an HBP and a pair of Engineer errors to get the team's first run of the day on the board, but WPI would bounce back strong in the bottom half of the frame as McKinney scored on a Sandy Fairbairn (Norton, MA) single through the left side to even the score at one-apiece. 
 
In the second, WPI put together a five-spot to gain a healthy lead. Francisco came up with an infield single to start things off, moving up on a Sherwood single and Latour would clear the bases with a homer to centerfield for a 4-1 advantage. McKinney followed up with single through the left side, stealing second and coming around to score on a Lum single down the right field line. After Riley O'Brien (Wynantskill, NY) reached on a fielder's choice, a Fairbairn triple made it a 6-1 game. 
 
In the third, the Engineers put up another four runs as Latour loaded the bases after getting hit by a pitch forcing an Amherst pitching change. All of the runners moved up a base, with Francisco scoring, on a wild pitch before a McKinney double brought the rest of them home. McKinney would cross the plate herself on a Lum sacrifice fly as WPI gained a 10-1 advantage en route to the victory. 
 
Following the first inning's unsteadiness, the WPI bullpen shut Amherst down 1-2-3 in the second, third and fourth and allowed just one walk in the fifth before Barr shut things down to earn the win.
 
GAME TWO
Amherst was the first to get on the board in game two, as it took until the third inning for a run to cross the plate by either team. Amherst used a trio of hits and a pair of WPI miscues to take the 5-0 lead. 
 
In the fifth inning, the Mammoths added another run to their total and a five-hit sixth inning, added five more runs to the Amherst total as the team headed to the bottom of the sixth with an 11-0 advantage. 
 
In the bottom of the sixth, WPI sent nine different batters to the plate to erase the run-rule bid. Sherwood started things off with a pinch hit single to left and was replaced on the basepaths by Amelia Davis (New Bedford, MA). Davis moved to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on a pinch hit single from Colleen Mayer (Hillsborough, NJ) single up the middle to put the first WPI run of the game on the board. 
 
Latour was hit by a pitch and a groundout from McKinney put both runners in scoring position for Lum who came up big with a single to left that drove in a pair of runs. O'Brien cleared the bases one batter later with a two-run shot to left to make it an 11-5 game which was as close as WPI would be able to get.
 
UP NEXT 
WPI is back in action on Friday, April 25 with another doubleheader at Rooftop Field against crosstown and NEWMAC rival Clark beginning at 3:30 pm while Amherst continues on the road on Saturday, April 26 at Williams with a doubleheader kicking off at Noon.