NEW LONDON, Conn. — 

The United States Coast Guard Academy softball team earned a pair of one-run wins against New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) foes Wheaton College on Friday, April 10th. The Bears walked off the first game for a 4-3 win before hanging on for a 5-4 result in game two.

Coast Guard improves to 12-8 on the season and 6-2 in conference play, while the Lyons move to 11-9 overall and 2-4 against NEWMAC opponents. Wheaton will look for a bounce back win or two tomorrow, April 11th, at home against another league foe in the form of Springfield College.

Game One: Bears 4, Wheaton 3; Box Score

With two outs in the bottom of the 7th inning, a single to center field by Maura Murphy (Bristow, Va.) sent Hayden Reilly (Prosper, Tex.) on a mad dash to home plate from first base. The throw home was there with time to spare, but the Bears sophomore evaded the tag from Wheaton's catcher to touch the plate and give her team a thrilling win.

Murphy was 2-for-3 in the opening contest with a double and two runs batted in, while Reilly was 1-for-4 while accounting for two runs. Abriana Schmutz (Marysville, Ohio) was 3-for-4 with a double and a run and Zoey Lynn (Nokomis, Fla.) went 1-for-2 with an RBI.

The Lions mustered six hits, led by a two-hit game from Ella Molinari while Peyton Blankenheim-Brown hiy a home run. Blankenheim-Brown's homer was the only RBI in game one for the Lyons, who scored their other two on Bears errors.

Dana Walker (Macon, Ga.) earned the win to improve to 7-5 on the season after 1.2 perfect innings of relief with two strikeouts. Sofia De La Rosa struck out five in her losing effort as the lone Lyon in the circle. Bears starter Emma Behel (Ellicott City, Md.) was good for 5.1 innings of work with one strikeout.

After the game started with two scoreless innings, Wheaton got on the board first when Julia Miller scored from first base via error on a sacrifice bunt. Murphy knotted it up in the bottom of the 3rd with an RBI double to drive in Reilly. Coast Guard added another in the bottom 4th when Lynn's single up the middle brought Sage Svalestad (East Hampton, Conn.) around from second.

Wheaton tied it at two in the top of the 5th when a two-out fly ball with runners on first and second was muffed in the outfield, but the Bears salvaged it by getting the advancing first base runner out at the two-bag. The Bears once again regained the lead in the bottom half after Schmutz led off with a double, advanced to third on a one-out sac fly, and then scored on a wild pitch.

Blankenheim-Brown wasted no time in erasing the Coast Guard lead in the top 6th by sending the first pitch she saw on a ride over the left-center field fence. Behel got the next batter out but allowed a single to the ensuing hitter, prompting a pitching change to Walker. The Lyons gave her one out thanks to a sac bunt comebacker, and the Bears ended the frame with a strikeout looking. Both teams were held off the boards for their next at-bats before Murphy and Reilly delivered the chaotic walk-off run.

Game Two: Bears 5, Wheaton 4; Box Score

Coast Guard took game two by holding off a late Lyons rally. A three-run 3rd inning and two-run 5th gave the Bears a strong lead, but Wheaton started storming back with a four-run 6th before their fire was eventually put out.

Reilly recorded two of Coast Guards' six hits, including her second collegiate home run while driving in three runs, while Schmutz and Kibler both knocked doubles with the former's extending her hit streak to 11 games. Wheaton saw a 3-for-4 game from Riley Dolan with two doubles and two more hits from Molinari, while Emma Boucher drove in two runs.

Walker improved to 8-5 following a complete game effort in which she struck out six. Blankenheim-Brown was on the other side of the result, striking out five over six innings in the circle. The game saw a combined seven errors, with five being attributed to the Bears.

Schmutz's got her team in the runs column in the bottom of the 3rd with a double to left field before a pair of RBI singles from Reilly and Murphy made it a three-run game. Reilly gave the Bears some insurance in the bottom 5th with an epic at-bat that saw her foul off six pitched before belting the tenth over the left field wall to set the score at 5-0.

Miller opened Wheaton's 6th-inning comeback attempt with a one-out RBI single up the middle. Despite a groundout by the next batter, Molinari later came through with runners on the corners to drive in one with a single down the right field line. Blankenheim-Brown followed up with a walk to load the bases, and then Boucher singled to center field to drive in two and make it a one-run game.

Walker was able to escape the rally after inducing a fly out to right field in foul territory. She returned to the circle in the top of the 7th and proceeded to shut the Lyons down with ease, getting the first two batters out on swinging strikeouts while Mack Murnane (Castle Hayne, N.C.) made a great pick and throw at third base to close out the game.

Coast Guard softball will return tomorrow, April 11th, in further NEWMAC action in Worcester at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (21-2, 7-1 NEWMAC). First pitch of the doubleheader's first game is scheduled for noon ET. The Engineers are currently ranked 22nd in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III poll. The Bears were swept in last season's meetings in New London by scores of 4-10 and 2-6.