CAMBRIDGE, Mass.  -  Playing as the home team at NEWMAC rival MIT's field, Coast Guard softball split with the Engineers in both teams' final games of the season. Game one ended with the Bears falling, 12-0, in five innings by run rule before Coast Guard bounced back to end their regular season with a 10-6 win in the second one.

MIT closes their season with a 16-4 league record (25-10 overall) and will enter the postseason as the top seed in the upcoming NEWMAC Championship Tournament. Their opponents will be revealbed following tomorrow's league-wide results.

The Bears shook off a rough offensive showing in the first contest to tally 13 hits in game two. Leading the way in that one were junior Dana Walker (Macon, Ga.) and sophomore Mack Murnane (Wilmington, N.C.), who combined for a 5-for-8 day and seven runs batted in.

In game one, MIT loaded the bases with one out in the first inning before scoring the first run of the game on a ground out to second base. The Engineers scored two more on a single in the following at-bat, and the next two batters reloaded the bases with singles of their own. Another set of back-to-back singles made it a 5-0 game before Coast Guard recorded the final out.

MIT picked up another run in the second inning via RBI double and went up 7-0 in the third thanks to another RBI single. The Bears blanked their hosting opponents in the fourth, but MIT put together another five-run inning in the fifth.

Two scored from second base on back-to-back infield errors. After the Bears got one out, MIT scored another on an RBI single; another out was recorded after, and the Engineers scored another via double. Their twelfth run of the game crossed on another single. The run rule was put in effect after Coast Guard was blanked in the bottom half.

The Bears tallied five hits in the first contest, with junior Emma Behel (Ellicott City, Md.) roping a double in the bottom of the fourth for one of them. Sophomore slap-hitter Abriana Schmutz (Marysville, Ohio) extended her hit streak to 13 games with a bottom third single, and Murnane extended her own to ten with a single in the bottom fifth.

MIT struck first again in the first inning of game two, utilizing a single to center field to drive in the first run of the game, but Coast Guard took a one run lead after junior Bridget Bartz (Arlington, Va.) drove in Schmutz with a double. Walker later gave the Bears a one-run lead with a single to left field to bring in Bartz.

The hosting visitors evened the score with an RBI double in the top of the third, but the Bears broke it in the bottom fourth by loading the bases with two outs and scoring three after a Murnane single to left field was thrown away trying to get it back into the infield. Schmutz, freshman Hayden Reilly (Prosper, Tex.), and senior captain Veronica Krystofik (Colchester, Conn.) all scored on the play.

Walker followed up again by driving in Bartz and Murnane with a single to center field. The Engineers chipped away with a three-run fifth, cutting it down to 7-3 with an RBI single; 7-4 with a triple; and 7-5 with another RBI single.

Murnane took one of those runs back for the Bears in the bottom half, driving in freshman Madeline Kibler (Effingham, Ill.) with a single to center to put it at 8-5. MIT showed little signs of relenting, scoring one on a double to center field in the top sixth.

Walker returned the favor with an RBI double of her own in the bottom half to drive in senior captain Natalie Beck (Billings, Mont.). Kibler added one more by driving in Walker with a single to left field, and Walker repayed her team's offensive efforts with a shutdown inning in the top seventh to claim the win.

Schmutz's hitting streak ended in the second game with an 0-for-1 showing, but she extended her reached base streak to 14 by drawing three walks. Murnane's hitting streak now sits at 11 following her second three-RBI game of the season. Walker wrote in her second four-RBI game of the season while improving her pitching record to 13-7.

Bears softball closes out their regular season with a 9-11 NEWMAC record and 15-18-1 overall record. The win on the day ties them with Wellesley College in the NEWMAC standings, but both teams postseason fates will be revealed following tomorrow's games.