BABSON PARK, Mass.  -  The 7-seed Coast Guard Academy softball team rallied in the seventh inning but ultimately fell to 3-seed Springfield College, 2-3, in NEWMAC Tournament winner's bracket action on Wednesday afternoon.

Springfield's win advanced them to their second game of the day versus hosts 2-seed Babson College. The ensuing contest went into extra innings and ended with a walk-off single in the tenth for Babson and a 1-2 loss for the Pride. Springfield will now face 5-seed Worcester Polytechnic Institute in an elimination game at 12:00 PM tomorrow in Cambridge.

Junior pitcher Dana Walker (Macon, Ga.) allowed five hits, three runs (all earned), three walks, and struck out two Springfield batters over 6.0 innings in the circle. Leading Coast Guard in the batter's box on the day was freshman catcher Madeline Kibler (Effingham, Ill.), who went 2-for-3 with a double that drove in both of the Bears' runs.

Coast Guard was kept from taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth after a bang-bang play at home plate. Sophomore utility Abriana Schmutz (Marysville, Ohio) was on first base with one out after reaching on a single to center field to lead off the frame. Junior infielder Bridget Bartz (Arlington, Va.) the stepped in and hit a routine grounder to shortstop, but an errant throw to first base allowed Bartz to reach and Schmutz to advance to third. Schmutz attempted to advance to home, but the throw from behind first base got there in time for the Pride catcher to tag the Bears' baserunner out.

Outside of that, Walker and Springfield starting pitcher Amelia DeRosa were locked in a pitchers' duel until the gained Pride gained a three-run advantage in the bottom of the sixth. Springfield had runners on the corners with one out before Lucy Puskas doubled to center field to plate one and put herself and her teammate on second and third. Kate Katsetos followed up with another double, clearing the bases this time to make it 3-0. Walker induced groundouts from the next two Pride batters to get out of the inning.

Coast Guard led off the top of the seventh, and the comeback attempt, with back-to-back singles by Bartz and fellow junior Emma Behel (Ellicott City, Md.). Freshman infielder Lauren Ragonese (Liverpool, N.Y.) moved her teammates over to second and third to set the table for Kibler, who clobbered the ball off of the right-center field fence for a double. Bartz scored easily while Behel looked to be part of a close play at the plate before Springfield's cutoff threw the ball offline, allowing the junior to score and the freshman to reach third base.

The rally was cut short as soon as it started. The Pride's third base picked up a ground ball from the following batter and dove towards Kibler in an attempt to catch the lead runner, and the umpire rewarded her effort with an out. Due to the quickness of the play, the call was deliberated between the three-man crew before being upheld. A strikeout in the next at-bat ended the game.

Kibler's performance at the plate was her fifth multi-hit game and third multi-RBI game of the season. Bartz's 1-for-3 performance brought her hitting streak to eight games, while Schmutz's single extended her reached base streak to 16.

The loss puts Bears softball in the loser's bracket, where they'll begin their fight to keep the season going versus 4-seed Wheaton College tomorrow at 10:00 AM, hosted by MIT. The match-up was set after Wheaton fell to 1-seed MIT, 2-4, after advancing thanks to a 6-0 win over WPI earlier in the day. Coast Guard split their regular season meeting with the Lyons with a 1-4 loss and a 6-2 win.