Springfield, Mass. – April 28, 2023 – Springfield College first-year Amelia DeRosa (Miller Place, N.Y.) tied the single season hits record this afternoon in a two game softball sweep of WPI on Potter Field. The Pride came from behind to win the opener, 4-2, before scoring seven in the first inning of the nightcap en route to a 12-4, six inning victory.

Springfield is now 31-7 overall and 12-4 in the NEWMAC, while WPI fell to 19-17 on the year and to 10-6 in the league. The Pride will need to sweep Wheaton College and have Coast Guard take at least one loss at MIT in order to secure the second seed in the upcoming New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament.

The Pride picked up their 30th and 31st wins of the season today, the sixth time in program history and first time since the 2017 campaign that Springfield has reached the 30-win plateau. The all-time wins record is held by the 2001 squad that went 41-10. Springfield also entered today's game as one of six teams from Region II to appear in the initial NCAA Division III Regional Rankings.

Game One:

WPI first-year Destiny Lum gave the Engineers a 2-0 advantage in the top of the first inning on a home run she lifted over the fence in right. From that point on, Springfield starter Gillian Kane (New Canaan, Conn.) shutdown the visitors with five scoreless frames in the circle.

Springfield's first run of the contest came in the fourth as Callie Gendron (Berlin, Conn.) registered her third home run of the season cutting the Pride's deficit in half.

WPI loaded the bases in the top of the sixth on a pair of singles and a walk, but Kane struck out Alex Sheehan to end the threat. Springfield immediately took advantage in the bottom half of the inning and with two outs, a two-run single to right by Breannah McCann (San Diego, Calif.) gave the Pride a 3-2 edge. Alli Olsen (Ridgewood, N.J.) gave Springfield an insurance run on a single up the middle heading to the seventh.

Emily Gell (Trumbull, Conn.) earned the save, her fourth of the year, with a perfect top of the seventh inning that featured back to back strikeouts to secure the game one victory. Kane (11-4) picked up the win on six innings, two runs, five hits and five punchouts.

Game Two:

An RBI double by Lum put the Engineers up 1-0 in the first, but Springfield strung together seven runs on six hits in the bottom of the opening frame for a huge early advantage. With two outs in the inning, Gendron singled and Michaela Ponticello (Gloversville, N.Y.) plated DeRosa to tie the game. McCann drove a two-run double to right center and two batters later with the bases loaded, Dana Serricchio (Stamford, Conn.) quickly unloaded them with a double to center. Doyle, who began the inning with a walk, brought in Serricchio on a double to left for the 7-1 lead.

Springfield added three more in the bottom of the second on a single by Ponticello and a two-run double by Maggie Britt.

WPI tried to slowly chip away as Emma Nagy hit a two-run homer to left, while Lum posted her second round tripper of the day in the sixth, but a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth by DeRosa ended the game by a 12-4 final in favor of the Pride, securing the important two-game sweep.

Britt and Ponticello combined to go a perfect 7-for-7 at the plate with four runs and two RBI for the Pride in game two, while DeRosa's walk-off single tied the single season hits record and now has 69 hits on the year.

Gell earned the win (4-2) as she threw three innings out of the pen after Ashley Pugliese (Huntington Station, N.Y.) got the start for the Pride.

Springfield will host Wheaton College in the regular season finale for both teams tomorrow at 11:00 am on Potter Field. The doubleheader was moved up an hour due to the incoming rain tomorrow.

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