NORTON, Mass. —
The United States Coast Guard Academy softball team put together a four-run 6th inning to advance past Wheaton College, 4-1, on Monday in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament play-in game. The hosting 6-seed Lyons took an early lead in the 2nd inning before the 7-seed Bears rallied later in the game.
Coast Guard improves to 17-16 overall, while Wheaton's season ends at 21-16 following their loss in the win or go home match-up.
Dana Walker (Macon, Ga.) showed up in the circle when the team needed her most, twirling her 15th complete game of the season while striking out seven Lyons and limiting the hosts to just four hits. The lone run for Wheaton was unearned, scoring in the 2nd inning from second base with two outs due to a fielding error on a single to the outfield.
The Lyons found a premium scoring opportunity again in the bottom 4th when they loaded the bases with no outs. Walker picked up a swinging strikeout for the first out before
Mack Murnane (Castle Hayne, N.C.) showed off her reflexes at the hot corner on a line out. The Bears were able to escape the jam when Walker induced a trademark 1-3 comebacker.
Walker dueled with Lyons ace
Peyton Blankenheim-Brown throughout the game as the Bears were held scoreless until the sixth inning.
Abriana Schmutz (Marysville, Ohio) led off by reaching on an error by the shortstop and then advanced to second base on a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt by outfield partner
Hayden Reilly (Prosper, Tex.). Coast Guard got runners on the second and third when a
Bridget Bartz (Arlington, Va.) grounder was misplayed again by the shortstop, allowing the Bears senior to advance to second and set the table for Walker.
Walker came through by pulling the ball through the left side, allowing Schmutz to score easily and place runners on the corners for the Bears. Walker's fellow senior captain
Maura Murphy (Bristow, Va.) stepped up to the plate next and put forth the at-bat of her life. After going up 2-1, Murphy fouled off three straight pitches before crushing a ball over the center field wall, giving the Bears a late 4-1 lead and knocking Blankenheim-Brown out of the circle.
Walker made the close out effort look easy with 1-2-3 innings in the bottom 6th and 7th. The Bears ace joined freshman
Zoey Lynn (Nokomis, Fla.) for a pair of 2-for-3 efforts at the plate. Walker improved her record to 13-9 on the season, while Blankenheim-Brown fell to 11-8 after striking out four batters and allowing five hits during her 5.1-inning performance.
Bears softball advances to Game 3 of the tournament, in which they'll face 3-seed Springfield College (25-12, 14-6 NEWMAC) at 2:00 PM ET. All of Tuesday's games were rescheduled from Wednesday due to expected inclement weather.
The winner of Game 3 will move on to take on 2-seed MIT (31-7, 16-4 NEWMAC) later in the day at 4:00 PM ET, while the loser will take on the defeated side of Game 2 between 4-seed Babson College (19-21, 11-9 NEWMAC) and 5-seed Wellesley College (20-13, 11-9 NEWMAC) on Friday the 8th at noon.
Should the Bears win out tomorrow, they'll advance to the winner's bracket semifinal on Friday at 4:00 PM ET against Game 2's winner or 1-seed #15 WPI (38-2, 19-1 NEWMAC).
