Worcester, Mass. - May 3, 2019 - The Springfield College softball team played a hard-fought battle with Babson College, but the Pride fell 1-0 in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship Tournament elimination game at WPI's Rooftop Field on Friday afternoon.

The game was scoreless going into the bottom of the seventh inning, when Babson loaded the bases and with no outs, Brooke Stock (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) drove a ball to center, which was caught, but Alex Corrigan (Middletown, N.J.) was able to tag up and score to lift the Beavers to victory.

Springfield College, which was the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament, closes its season with an overall record of 22-16, while Babson, which was the No. 3 seed, improves to 24-13 on the year and will advance to play No. 6 Wellesley in another elimination game.

Senior Shelby Allen (Oakland, N.J.) got the nod for the Pride and pitched 6.1 innings, giving up just four hits while striking out one. Her counterpart, Stock, was impressive for the Beavers as she pitched 7.0 strong, giving up two hits while fanning 10 Springfield College batters.

Springfield College had a runner in scoring position in the top of the first inning when Alexyss Conley (Bloomingburg, N.Y.) drew a lead-off walk, before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt, but Stock struck out Yaixsa Vargas (Waterbury, Conn.) and forced Allen to fly out, getting out of the early jam.

With two outs in the bottom of the second, Alex Corrigan (Middletown, N.J.) doubled to left center to put a runner in scoring position for the Beavers, but in the next at bat, Allen forced Jamie Hoffman (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) to ground out to second, finishing off the frame scorless. Babson got another hit in the bottom of the fourth when Kayla Schinik (Watchung, N.J.) singled to lead off the inning, but the rally was defused as Allen was able to force two outs, before the Pride broke through with a hit in the top of the fifth when Jen Slane (Tolland, Conn.) singled to left, but just as Allen did, Stock struck out Hannah Salvietti (Cheshire, Conn.) and forced a pop up from Natalie Stoner (Wynantskill, N.Y.) to keep the game scoreless.

After an hour-long rain delay, the game resumed in the bottom of the sixth inning, which set up the late-game heroics from Stock. 

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