WORCESTER, Mass. -  Backed by two wins from senior hurler Barbarajean Grundlock (Blackwood, NJ), the Wellesley College softball team swept a NEWMAC doubleheader at WPI.  The Blue took game one 4-0, and won the night cap, 5-4 in 8 innings.

The Engineers and Blue started the first four innings of each game in a scoreless tie before a team dented the scoreboard. In the tightly contested game two, WPI erupted for four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to jump out to the lead. Amanda Martori singled to right to lead off the inning. Allie Roche laid down a sacrifice bunt to try to push the go-ahead run into scoring position, but a throwing error on the play allowed her to reach base. Given its first scoring opportunity of the day, WPI responded as Nicole Maglione followed with a three-run homer to left, giving the Engineers a 3-0 advantage. The blast was Maglione's fourth of the season. Jen Richards , the next batter, launched her team-leading seventh home run of the year for the first back-to-back home runs on the season for WPI, giving the Crimson-and-Gray a 4-0 lead.

Wellesley battled back in the top of the sixth, sparked when Elora Daniele (Belle Mead, NJ) led off the inning with a solo shot to cut the lead to 4-1. Amanda Tai (Melrose, MA) and Megan Townsend (Saline, MI) followed with singles, then advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch. Jessie Haladyna (St. Johns, FL) delivered Townsend with Wellesley's second run on an RBI groundout, before the Blue got their third run on an RBI single by Megan Wood (Jacksonville, FL). Wood would later score on a fielding error, tying the score at 4-4.

The game remained deadlocked until extra innings, with Wellesley going out in front by a run without the benefit of a hit. Tai started out the inning on second, moved to third on a groundout and scored via a throwing error on the play, giving the Blue a 5-4 lead. Despite WPI starting its half of the second inning with runners on second and third and nobody out, Grundlock shut down the comeback attempt with two strikeouts and a groundout back to the mound, winning her second game of the day. Erin Flaherty suffered the loss for WPI, dropping to 2-5 on the year.

Grundlock was masterful for Wellesley in game one, delivering a three-hit complete-game shutout in which she struck out 13. Grundlock outdueled Allie Hardy, who tossed six shutout innings of her own, while only scattering three hits. Wellesley finally was able to break through in the top of the seventh off Linsday Brown , plating four runs for the win.

With one out in the inning, Sinta Cebrian (Seattle, WA) and Alex Warren (Delta, BC) got things started with back-to-back singles in a stretch where five straight Wellesley batters reached base. Tai got the key hit in the inning, a two-RBI single with two runs already in, giving the Blue the 4-0 win. 

Both WPI and Wellesley are back in action on Sunday in rescheduled NEWMAC doubleheaders.  The Engineers will travel to Coast Guard for a noon start, while the Blue play at Wheaton beginning at 1:00pm.