WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Wellesley softball celebrated its home opener on Saturday afternoon with a 4-3, 8-0, sweep of WPI. The wins lift the Blue to 14-4 for the season, 6-2 in NEWMAC play. The Engineers fall to 10-9 overall, 2-6 in the conference.

Wellesey took an early lead in the opening game when Alex Warren (Delta, BC) homered to right center in the bottom of the second. The Blue added a run in the third when a single from Brittany Bakacs (Millstone Township, NJ) drove in Jesse Haladyna (St. John's, FL) to give Wellesley a 2-0 lead. WPI rallied in the top of the fourth, when the Engineers combined singles from Katherine Fitton (Lebanon, CT) and Erin Beaulieu (Bethany, CT) and a Wellesley miscue to trim the lead to 2-1.

After two scoreless innings, Wellesley was one out away from victory, but a pinch hit homerun from Courtney Rosales (Ipswich, MA) tied the score at 2-2 in the top of the seventh. Amanda Martori (Haverhill, MA) followed with a walk, then Kelly Johnson (Buxton, ME) tripled to right center, driving in pinch runner Emily Hartzell (Brunswick, ME) to give WPI a 3-2 lead.

With one out in the bottom half of the inning, Megan Townsend (Saline, MI) walked. Haladyna followed with single to left field, then Ilana Oroloff's (Weston, MA) single advanced Haladyna to second and Townsend to third. Bakacs ended the game with a single to left, driving in the tying and game-winning runs.

Kelly Johnson paced WPI in game one, going 2-4 with an RBI. Wellesley's Brittany Bakacs (Millstone Township, NJ) went 2-4 with three RBI, while Alex Warren (Delta, BC) was 2-4 with a homerun and a triple.

The Blue carried the momentum into the first inning of game two, capitalizing on a walk, three singles and a grand-slam from Warren to grab a 5-0 lead. Haladyna reached on an error to open the inning and promptly stole both second and third. Orloff singled, driving in Haladyna. Bakacs and Megan Wood (Jacksonville, FL) followed with back-to-back infield singles to load the bases. After a fielder's choice and a force out at home, Warren hammered her second homerun of the day, this one, a grandslam, to give the Blue a 5-0 lead.

Wellesley hurler Lauren Goldfarb (Albuquerque, NM), after allowing a single in the first, took advantage of the lead and pitched hitless ball for the next four innings. In the bottom of the fifth, three straight singles from Orloff, Backacs and Wood pushed the lead to 6-0. A bouncer to short, drove in one more run, and Wood's grounder to short drove in Wood for the game-ending 8-0 lead.

Johnson had the only hit for WP in game two. Allie Hardy took the loss, giving up eight runs and nine hits in five innings.

For Wellesley, Warren again led the show, going 2-3 with five RBI. Ilana Orloff (Weston, MA) was 3-3 while Bakacs and Megan Wood (Jacksonville, FL) each added two hits. Goldfarb gave up one hit and no runs in the win, pushing her record to 7-2.

The Blue are back in action on Tuesday, hosting Wheaton in a rescheduled doubleheader beginning at 3:00pm. WPI also returns to the field on Tuesday, hosting Nichols in a 3:00pm non-conference doubleheader.