Softball at MIT
NEWMAC Tournament | Game 9
Thursday, May 8 | 4 p.m. 
Briggs Field | Cambridge, Mass. 

WHAT TO KNOW
•    The last two unbeatens in this year's championship, second-seeded Babson will meet top-seeded MIT in the NEWMAC Tournament winner's bracket final on Thursday afternoon in Cambridge.
•    The winner of Thursday's contest will advance to Saturday's championship game needing just one victory to claim a conference title, while the loser will be tasked with winning three straight elimination games.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Monday, May 5 
Game 1: No. 7 Coast Guard 7, No. 6 Emerson 0

Wednesday, May 7
Game 2: No. 5 Wheaton 6, No. 4 WPI 0
Game 3: No. 3 Springfield 3, No. 7 Coast Guard 2
Game 4: No. 1 MIT 4, No. 5 Wheaton 2
Game 5: No. 2 Babson 2, No. 3 Springfield 1 (10 inn.)

Friday, May 8 (all games at MIT)
Game 6: No. 5 Wheaton vs, No. 7 Coast Guard, 10 a.m. 
Game 7: No. 3 Springfield vs. No. 4 WPI, 12 p.m.
Game 8: Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7, 2 p.m.
Game 9: No. 2 Babson at No. 1 MIT, 4 p.m. 

Saturday, May 9 (games at highest remaining seed)
Game 10: Winner Game 8 vs. Loser Game 9, 12 p.m.
Game 11: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 2 p.m. 

Sunday, May 10 (games at Saturday site)
Game 12: Winner Game 11 vs. Loser Game 11 (if necessary), 1 p.m. 
 
SERIES HISTORY
•    Babson is 47-30 all-time against MIT in a series that dates back to 1988.
•    The Beavers are just 2-4 versus the Engineers over the last two seasons although the teams split their regular season doubleheader back on April 9 in Cambridge. 
•    The Green and White is 8-8 against MIT at Briggs Field going back to 2017. 

POSTSESAON HISTORY
•    Babson is 3-8 all-time against MIT in NEWMAC Tournament play and Thursday's contest will be the 10th between the teams in the postseason since 2017. 
•    The Engineers have won seven in a row versus the Beavers in the conference playoffs, which includes four victories by a single run and two in extra innings since 2018. 
•    Thursday's matchup marks the fourth year in a row that Babson and MIT have hooked up in the conference playoffs. 
•    The Engineers defeated the Green and White 2-1 in eight innings in the winner's bracket final and 4-0 in the NEWMAC Championship game last May. 

LAST MEETING
•    First-year Belle DiCampello knocked in the go-ahead run as part of a four-run seventh-inning rally to help Babson defeat MIT, 6-2, in game two of this season's regular season doubleheader on April 9 in Cambridge. 
•    Junior Sophia Pak singled twice, sophomore Emily Walsh added a two-run double in the seventh inning and classmate Charlotte Raymond doubled, walked twice and scored a pair of runs for the Beavers, who dropped game one of the twin bill 3-2 in eight innings.
•    Macekenzie Bivin and Ava Ladd each drove in a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the game for the Engineers, who had just thre hits in the loss. 

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
•    Second-seeded Babson (25-13) has won four consecutive games after outlasting third-seeded Springfield 2-1 in 10 innings on Wednesday afternoon. 
•    Graduate student Moira O'Reilly struck out eight over 7.0 innings, classmate Cameron Whiteford retired all nine batters she faced in relief and Walsh drove in first-year Kay LaLiberty with a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 10th for the Beavers, who got a hit from six different players in the victory. 
•   Pak is batting .471 with five extra-base hits, a team-high 23 RBI and 20 runs scored, senior Sara Moore is hitting .424 with two doubles, two triples, 16 RBI and highs of 31 stolen bases and 32 runs scored, and Walsh enters the tournament with a .311 average to go along with nine doubles, 15 RBI and 22 runs scored. 
•   O'Reilly is 9-5 with a 1.62 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 95.0 innings pitched this spring, while Whiteford is 11-6 with a 1.92 ERA, five shutouts and 121 strikeouts in 113.0 innings on the year. 

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
•    Top-seeded MIT (26-10) has won 12 of its last 14 games after rallying for a 4-2 win over fifth-seeded Wheaton on Wednesday afternoon. 
•    Ladd and Delaney Benevides both went 3-for-3 with an RBI, while Maggie Feng was 2-for-3 with a run scored for the Engineers, who went in front for good with a three-run, two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth inning.
•    Benevides is batting .433 with two extra-base hits, 18 RBI, 30 stolen bases and 24 runs scored, Ladd is hitting .413 with eight doubles, six triples, three home runs, 33 BI and 31 runs scored, and Mikayla Cable boasts a .393 average to go along with six doubles, four homers, 27 RBI and 31 runs scored. 
•    Caroline Langmeyer is 15-2 with a 2.05 ERA, four shutouts and 68 strikeouts over 109.1 innings, while Katie Katsuyama has gone 5-4 with a 2.80 ERA in 50.0 innings pitched this spring. 

MOORE EARNS CONFERENCE, NATIONAL HONORS
•    After batting .684 (13-for-19) with five multi-hit games, Moore was tabbed as the league's player of the week on Monday and was selected as the NFCA Division III Player of the Week on Tuesday. 
•    She had one double, two RBI, six runs scored and was 10-for-10 in stolen base attempts as the Beavers won their final three games of the week. 

BEAVERS IN THE POSTSEASON
•    Babson has captured four NEWMAC championships (2004, 2005, 2017, 2021) and has won at least two games in seven of the last eight tournaments going back to 2016. 
•    In addition to their 2017 and 2021 titles, the Beavers also reached the championship round of the tournament in both 2018 and 2024.
•    The Beavers have opened the NEWMAC Tournament with a victory in eight consecutive seasons going back to 2016. 
•    Babson is 4-2 in six conference tournament games at Alumni Field since 2021.

RISING UP THE RECORD BOOKS
•    Already the program's all-time leader with 101 stolen bases, Moore has swiped 31 bags this spring and is now just one away from matching her single-season record of 32 set back in 2023. Her 261 total bases also rank fifth on the Beavers' career list. 
•    Moore's 219 career hits are good for third in program history behind only Catie Funk '13 (231) and Andrea Cartullo '07 (223). 
•    O'Reilly ranks second among active Division III pitchers with 878 career strikeouts in addition to ranking third in innings pitched (659.1) and strikeouts per seven innings (9.32), and sixth with 71 career victories in the circle. 

HIT PARADE
•    Pak ranks second in the NEWMAC with a career-high 57 hits and enters the postseason riding an 11-game hit streak, while Moore is third in the league with 56 hits and has at least one in 12 consecutive games. 
•    Pak and Moore are the sixth Babson duo to record 50 or more hits in the same season and first to achieve the feat since 2016 when  Annie Quine and Samantha Smith '18 finished with 55 and 51 knocks, respectively. 
•    The Beavers' single-season record for hits is 63 set by Cartullo in 2006 and matched by Funk in 2013 and Moore in 2023. 

TOURNAMENT TESTED
•    O'Reilly is 11-8 with a 2.05 earned run average and 124 strikeouts in 116.0 innings pitched over 20 career postseason appearances in the circle. 
•    Moore is batting .357 with two doubles, one RBI, 11 runs scored and seven stolen bases in 18 career postseason outings, while Hadjipanayis went 5-for-14 (.357) at the plate with three runs scored in five NEWMAC Tournament games last season. 
•    Raymond also hit a three-run homer in her NEWMAC Tournament debut as the Beavers opened last year's championship with a 10-2 victory over Smith. 

TRENDS TO WATCH
•    Hadjipanayis has reached base in seven consecutive games and is batting .381 (8-for-21) during this stretch. 
•    Walsh, who leads the squad with five multi-hit games, and DiCampello both own four-game hitting streaks. 
•    Moore leads the team with 19 multi-hit games and has at least one hit and one stolen base in eight consecutive outings. 
•    Pak has recorded multiple hits in 16 contests, which includes finishing with two or more knocks in four straight games to end the regular season and in 11 of 20 NEWMAC contests. 

NUMBERS TO KNOW
•    The Beavers are 22-2 on the year when scoring at least three runs. 
•    Babson is 21-6 this spring and 42-11 over the last two seasons when scoring the first run of the game. 
•    The Green and White is 19-1 when leading after five innings. 
•    The Beavers are 17-2 on the year and 41-4 going back to the start of the 2024 campaign when giving up two runs or fewer. 
•    Babson is 8-7 on the year in one-run games and 11-9 in contests decided by one or two runs. 

UP NEXT
•    The winner will play at 2 p.m. on Saturday, while the loser will face an elimination game at 12 p.m. on Saturday in Cambridge.