WELLESLEY, Mass. – The Wheaton College softball team split its New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) doubleheader at Wellesley College Friday afternoon, winning game one 1-0 before falling in game two 2-1 in eight innings.

The Lyons (17-17, 10-5 NEWMAC) scored the only run in game one in their half of the first. A leadoff walk by sophomore Jenna Rocha (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional), a fielding error on a ball hit by freshman Noelle Christmas (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth South), and a single by sophomore Ashley Brillon (Attleboro, Mass./Bishop Feehan) loaded the bases for Wheaton with no one out.

Following a strikeout by junior Megan Roy (North Dighton, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth Regional), freshman Emily Berardi (Boston, Mass./Boston Latin) hit into a fielders choice which saw Rocha thrown out at the plate. A throwing error on the Wellesley catcher, however, allowed Christmas to come around from second and score what proved to be the winning run.

Sophomore Allison Baker (Orange, Conn./Amity Regional) tossed a complete game shutout to improve to 10-11 with the win. She allowed four hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out two. Junior Sarah Schwartzmeyer (Elba, N.Y./Elba Central School) was the hard-luck loser for the Blue as she allowed five hits and the unearned run over seven innings. She walked two and struck out seven.

In the nightcap, Wheaton went ahead 1-0 on a two-out RBI single by Roy in the first that plated Christmas. The Blue tied the game in their half of the inning. Junior Lauren Goldfarb (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva) singled to lead off the frame and scored when a ball hit by sophomore Jayne Ellis (Mishawaka, Ind./Penn) could not be handled by the Wheaton SS.  

The game remained tied into the eight. After Wheaton failed to push across a run in their half of the inning, Wellesley sacrificed freshman Maria LaBouyer (Yuba City, Calif./Yuba City) to third. Ellis followed with a single to second to bring in the winning run.

Berardi worked the first four innings for the Lyons and gave up three hits and one run. Christmas pitched the final 4.1 and surrendered four hits and one run with one strikeout to suffer the loss. Schwartzmeyer moved to 5-4 with the win as she gave up six hits and one run while striking out four.

Brillon finished game one with two hits while Avlia went 2-for-3 in game two. Goldfarb has two hits in each game for the Blue while LaBouyer went 2-for-3 in the nightcap.

The Lyons are tied for second place in the conference heading into tomorrow's NEWMAC regular season finale against Springfield. The two schools will play a pair of games beginning at 11:30 a.m. The Blue play two against Smith in Wellesley beginning at noon.