Worcester, Mass. - March 31, 2016 - The Springfield College softball team dropped a pair of New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) contests to WPI on Thursday evening.  WPI picked up a 6-2 win in the opener, before pushing past the Pride, 8-3, in the nightcap.

With the setbacks, Springfield is now 8-6, 2-2 in conference play on the year, while the Engineers improve to 14-4 overall and 3-1 in conference.

The Pride will play its home opener on Saturday, April 2 when it hosts Emerson for a NEWMAC doubleheader beginning at 12 pm.

Game One - WPI 6, Springfield 2

Melissa Nelson (Milford, Conn.) and Kayla Padroff (Southington, Conn.) each had 2-for-3 performacnes from the dish, with Padroff and Elizabeth Joseph (Stamford, Conn.) acounting for the visitors RBI.  Starting pitcher Talia Loda (East Haven, Conn.) was charged with the loss after she scattered six hits en route to allowing four runs, three earned, in five innings of work.  She struck out four and walked three.

WPI struck first in game one when junior Hope Shevchuk (Burlington, Conn.) drove in sophomore RiAnna May (Westminster, Colo.) with two outs in the bottom of the second. The Crimson and Gray added on another in the fourth thanks to a two-out RBI double. Junior Kristin Gallagher (Coventry, R.I.) doubled in what proved to be the game-winning run with a pair of outs in the fifth. 

Springfield pulled within a run with a pair in the top of the sixth on back-to-back two-out run-producing singles by Joseph and Padroff. The Engineers pulled away with three in the home half of the stanza as sophomore Natalie Fabrizio (Hampstead, N.H.) sent an RBI pinch-hit single through the right side. Sophomore Ama Biney (Worcester, Mass.) followed with a two-run single through the left side. 

Game Two - WPI 8, Springfield 3

Sam Cox (Longmeadow, Mass.) led the Pride's offense as she went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI, while Jenna Webb (Harrison, N.Y.) went 1-for-2 at the plate and scored two runs for the visitors.  Nicole Cring (Cooperstown, N.Y.) shouldered the loss as she gave up three earned runs in two innings of work as the starter.

The nightcap saw Springfield take an early 2-0 lead in the first. Sophomore Mackenzie Navarro (Taunton, Mass.) scampered home on a wild pitch before Cox sent an RBI hit to left.

WPI took the lead in the bottom of the second thanks to a 3-RBI double to center, and the Engineers added three more on a 3-RBI triple to left center in the fifth. Cox doubled in a run in the top of the sixth to cut the Pride deficit to three, however, Wood capped the scoring with a two-run double to right center in the bottom of the sixth.