BABSON PARK, Mass. – The Wellesley College softball team picked up a doubleheader split with cross-town rival Babson on Tuesday afternoon.  The Beavers took the opener 2-1, while Wellesley responded with a 9-4 victory in the second game.  Babson is now 14-12 overall and 5-3 in the conference, while Wellesley moves to 11-8 overall and 7-2 in the NEWMAC.

Junior Danielle Liska (Seymour, Conn.) sparkled in game one, outdueling Wellesley senior captain Barbarajean Grundlock (Blackwood, N.J.) to earn her 11th win of the season. The Beavers’ righthander went seven innings, allowing just one run on five hits, walking one and striking out seven. Grundlock, meanwhile, gave up just two runs on four hits, walked four and fanned 10 in six innings of work. The loss dropped her record to 8-5 on the year.

Babson scored both of its runs in the bottom of the first, as first-year Morgan Sprague (Clifton Park, N.Y.) singled in senior captain Kaitlyn Clark (Ramsey, N.J.) with two outs and sophomore pinch-runner Nicole Guiliano (North Reading, Mass.) later scored on a wild pitch. Both Clark and Guiliano had reached with one-out walks.

Wellesley cut its deficit in half in the sixth, as senior captain Amanda Tai (Melrose, Mass.) led off with a single and later scored on a two-out double by junior Megan Wood (Jacksonville, Fla.). However, that would be all Liska would allow as she stranded the tying run at second in the seventh to clinch the 2-1 win.

Game two was all Wellesley, which scored four runs in the second and third innings to build an early 8-1 lead en route to a 9-4 victory. Wood went 3-for-3 with a homer, two runs scored, and two RBIs to pace the Blue, while junior Alex Warren (Delta, British Columbia) and sophomore Brittany Bikacs (Millstone Township, N.J.) each added two hits and three RBIs. Grundlock started and allowed one run in the first three innings, while first-year Sarah Sherburne (Mill Valley, Calif.) pitched the final four innings in relief, giving up two earned runs and striking out one to earn her first collegiate victory (1-1).

Sprague blasted a two-run homer in the seven for Babson – the first round-tripper of her collegiate career – while fellow rookie Lisa Wojnar (Bellaire, Texas) added a team-high three hits. First-year Kayla Davis (Gardner, Mass.) chipped in with two hits in defeat, and Liska suffered the loss on the mound to fall to 11-3.

Wellesley is back in action tomorrow with a 3:30pm doubleheader at Framingham State.