NEW LONDON, Conn. - After their own comeback attempt in game one was dismissed, Coast Guard softball bounced back to take game two and pulled the plug on a Babson College comeback to split their New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) schedule-opening doubleheader.
The Bears fell in game one, 4-5, before winning game two, 7-6, to move to 5-5 overall and break a four-game skid, while Babson moves to 9-4 and falls out of a four-game win streak; both teams start conference play with 1-1 records. Babson will look to restart their win streak on April 4th in further conference action against Springfield College (10-6, 1-1 NEWMAC).
The Bears were held to five hits game one before putting nine in the box score in game two, while defensive mishaps were a common theme for the hosts as they finished the day committing nine errors between both games.
Game One: Coast Guard 4, Babson 5
Coast Guard was on the board first with a one-run fourth inning, but Babson tied the game in the top of the fifth and proceeded to score two runs in each of their final two frames. The Bears managed to add one more on the bottom of the sixth and entered the bottom seventh trailing, 2-5.
Freshman
Madeline Kibler (Effingham, Ill.) started the rally with a one-out double to left field before senior captain
Veronika Krystofik (Colchester, Conn.) picked her up with an RBI single up the middle. She would find herself in scoring position with two outs just a few batters later, and her fellow captain
Natalie Beck (Billings, Mont.) brought her in with a single to left field to cut the deficit to 4-5. The rally was squashed after Babson got the next Bears batter to ground out to end the game.
Coast Guard made five errors during the game, with four of them either leading to or allowing a run to score.
Junior
Dana Walker (Macon, Ga.) started in the circle and threw over 150 pitches while going the distance. She was tabbed with just one earned run while walking four, three of which came in the first inning, and striking out ten. The ten strikeouts are her second-most in a game this season and the second time she's reached the number.
Game Two: Coast Guard 7, Babson 6
The Bears' bats had woken up in the final inning of the first game and refused to be put to rest as Coast Guard lept out to a 4-0 lead through the first two innings.
Maura Murphy had a big role in that opening outburst, contributing an RBI triple to a three-run first inning and an RBI single to the one-run second.
Errors came back around to haunt Coast Guard in the top of the third. The frame saw the Bears commit three of their total four errors in the game and leading to three of Babson's game-tying four runs in the inning be left unearned. Babson was not immune to the mishaps, however, as a two-out bases-loaded grounder in the bottom third was whiffed by the Beavers's shortstop and allowed the Bears to retake a 6-4 lead.
A Babson home run in the fourth made it 6-5 before Beck reclaimed the run with an RBI double in the bottom sixth. The seventh saw Babson get runners on second and third with one out and bring one in with a sac fly, but freshman in the circle
Hayden Reilly (Prosper, Tex.) got a line out to second base to end the comeback.
Reilly made the first start of her collegiate pitching career and was once again able to display her worth and potential as a two-way player. With the bat, she went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs; in the circle, she allowed seven hits and two runs (both earned) over six innings to earn her first win. The freshman currently holds a 1.14 ERA and WHIP across 12.1 innings pitched this season.
Who's Next?
Coast Guard softball continues their NEWMAC schedule on April 4th with two contests in Worcestor against Clark University (Mass.). The Cougars are 7-9 overall and 0-2 in conference play while on a five-game losing streak, and haven't defeated Coast Guard on the diamond since 2016.
