Worcester, MA --- Senior pitcher Meghan Kelly (Burlington, MA) earned a win and a save as WPI swept visiting Babson in NEWMAC softball action Friday afternoon by scores of 4-2 and 6-3.  With the wins, WPI improves to 16-8 overall and 8-2 in NEWMAC action.  Babson falls to 17-12-1 on the season and 6-4 in conference play. 

Kelly scattered eight hits in the opener, yielding just one earned run while fanning six.  Babson had already pushed a run across in the third to tie the game at 2-1 and had runners on second and third with no outs when Kelly responded with a pair of strikeouts and a harmless inning-ending grounder.  

The Engineers countered in the bottom of the third with two runs following a two-out throwing error.  Shannon O'Connell (Worcester, MA) scored the second run as she hustled all the way around from first base on the play.  O'Connell provided the final heroics in the seventh inning, when, with the tying runs on base with two outs, she got a perfect hop on a would-be base hit to right field and threw the batter out at first to end the game.  

Kelly improved to 7-2 with the victory.  Kristen Gervais (Millbury, MA) tallied an RBI double in the first while Briana Dougherty (Woburn, MA) added a run-producing single in the second.  Jen Richards (Hampstead, NH) notched a pair of hits for the Engineers.

Jess Byrn (Safety Harbor, FL) picked up the loss in the opener for the Beavers.  She allowed just two earned runs while notching three strikeouts.  Sarah Rubino (Westport, MA) registered an RBI single for Babson in the second while Courtney Thurston (Taunton, MA) smashed an RBI double down the left field line in the third. 

WPI used the long ball to jump out to a 3-0 advantage in the first inning of the nightcap. Nicole Maglione (Charlton, MA) led off the bottom of the first with her tenth homer of the season before Sara Migdal (Hagaman, NY) launched a two-run blast three batters later. 

Freshman Kelly Johnson (Buxton, ME) improved to 5-1 by tossing the first 4 2/3 innings.  Kelly came in to record the final seven outs to earn her third save of the season.  Freshman Danielle Liska (Seymour, CT) allowed just one earned run over the final six innings for the Beavers while dropping to 7-4. 

Andrea Cartullo (Holbrook, MA) picked up a pair of RBI in the nightcap for Babson.  She registered two hits in both contests.  Jess Cohen (Pittsford, NY) and Byrn both collected a pair of hits in the second game for the Beavers while WPI's Nicole DeCampo (Stoneham, MA) collected three hits. 

Both teams are scheduled to return to action on Saturday with doubleheaders at noon.  WPI will travel to Springfield while Babson hosts Coast Guard.