Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SPRINGFIELD, Mass. —

GAME 1:

Both fighting to stay alive in the NEWMAC tournament, Coast Guard and Babson battled it out at Springfield College. On the back of clutch hitting and an ace performance on the mound, the Bears came away with a 5-2 victory

The Beavers drew first blood with an RBI single in the first. CGA answered in the top of the second when a bases loaded Madeline Kibler (Effingham, Ill.) walk scored Zoey Lynn (Nokomis, Fla.) who led off the inning with a bloop single. Bears starter Dana Walker (Macon, Ga.) cruised through the bottom of the 2nd, sending down Babson in order.

Coast Guard took their first lead of the afternoon on a pair of singles by Hayden Reilly (Prosper, Tex.) and Lynn. Reilly was put into scoring position after a deep fly ball by Walker that she tagged up to second on.

Walker got through another 1-2-3 inning thanks to stellar defensive plays from her freshman infielders Lynn and Ainsley Hololob (Yaphank, N.Y.).

A two RBI double by Reilly and a Walker infield single to score her broke it open to 5-1 in the 4th. After her RBI double in the top half, Reilly made a splash in the field in the bottom half with a diving play in left field. From there the Bears completed the scoreless inning.

In the bottom of the 5th, Babson chipped away with one but Walker escaped a second and third jam with a backwards K to send the game to the 5th leading 5-2.

Threatening again in the 6th with two runners on, a stellar backhanded play by Mack Murnane (Castle Hayne, N.C.) kept the runners on 2nd and 3rd before Bridget Bartz (Arlington, Va.) made a play on a slow roller to end the inning.

After a scoreless top half, Walker and the Bears headed to the bottom of the 7th up 5-2. The senior ace left no room for drama, forcing two groundouts and a fly out to keep the Bears afloat in the NEWMAC tournament.

GAME 2:

Two hours after advancing past Babson, the Bears again hit the field with their season on the line, this time against against Springfield. The Pride, a familiar foe, beat the Bears 1-0 just three days ago.

The Bears threatened in the first, putting two on but wound up scoreless despite driving up Pride starter Julia Rimshnick's pitch count to 28. Walker in turn set Springfield down in order on 13 pitches, thanks to two nice plays at third by Murnane.

Springfield had their first opportunity with runners on 2nd and 3rd and no outs in the 2nd. Walker answered in a big way with back to back strikeouts. The Pride did score the first run of the game on a passed ball but Walker fielded a 1-3 putout to stop the bleeding there and send the game to the third inning.

Great Springfield defense put the Bears down 1-2-3 in the 3rd. After escaping another jam with a runner in scoring position and less than two outs, Walker led off the 4th with a line drive single and advanced into scoring position on a Maura Murphy (Bristow, Va.) sac bunt. Pinch runner Olivia Garcia (Oxford, Conn.) was stranded however after a hard hit double play.

Again with runners on, Walker beared down in the bottom of 4th, capping off the inning with a strikeout. In the bottom of the 5th, the Bears again escaped a runner in scoring position after center fielder Abriana Schmutz (Marysville, Ohio) made an unbelievable running catch at the base of the fence.

CGA capitalized on the momentum from the insane Schmutz catch by getting the first two runners on in the top of the 6th. A well executed sac bunt by Murphy for the second time in the game advanced runners to 2nd and 3rd with just one out for Lynn,!who came through in a huge way with a two RBI single to score Reilly and Walker, who gave an acrobatic tumble into home plate to evade the tag. The runs snapped a 12 inning scoreless streak against the Pride.

Springfield again put pressure on in the 6th, leading off with a single and advancing to second with two outs. Again, the Bears escaped. This time for the second inning in a row on a diving catch, this time by Murnane full extension in foul territory.

After a lead off single, Ella Stolarzyk (Danville, Calif.) was stranded at third to send the game to the bottom of the 7th with CGA up one. Walker started the inning with a K, her sixth of the game. She notched strikeout number seven on the very next batter. Down to their final strike, Springfield battled with a Reilly Hunter infield single despite a diving stop by Bartz at second. To close out the game, it was again stellar defense for the Bears with a one hop snare by Murnane at third and perfect throw to first to keep the #7 seed Bears' Cinderella run alive.