NORTHAMPTON, Mass.--The Smith College softball team dropped a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) doubleheader to Wellesley College, falling 12-2 in the opener and a closer-than-it-seems 10-3 defeat in the nightcap.  The Blue upped their record to 14-8, and 4-2 in NEWMAC play, while Smith fell to 1-22 and 0-10 in the NEWMAC.

In game two, the Blue took a 2-0 lead courtesy of a passed ball that scored Lauren Goldfarb and an RBI single from Brittany Bakacs.  Smith responded in the bottom of the second; with one out, Kaitlyn O'Brien drew a walk, and Kathryn Durkin was hit by a pitch to set the table for Brittany Purington (Weare, N.H./John Stark), who crushed a three run homer to left field that gave the Pioneers a 3-2 lead.

Wellesley tied the game in the top of the third with an RBI groundout from Sinta Cebrian that plated Goldfarb, and took the lead for good on a solo homer to center field by Mara Blesoff in the fourth inning. 

Smith kept the game close with a couple of great defensive plays.  In the fourth, Jayne Ellis drew a walk, and Jennifer Migliore tried to bunt her over, but Purington charged down the bunt to make the play at first, and O'Brien alertly threw across the diamond to Salma Mehter (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt), covering third base, to cut down Ellis who had tried to take third. 

With the bases loaded and one out in the fifth, Kayla Kiers (West Warwick, R.I./West Warwick) got Blesoff to hit an arching fly to shallow left, but shortstop Catherine Tocci (Belmont, Mass./Belmont) made a sliding catch and fired home to double off Megan Townsend to keep the score at 5-3.

The Blue tacked on single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, and a grand slam by Ellis gave the Blue a 10-3 lead.  Smith managed three hits in the game, including Sarah Goodman (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Mendon)'s third double of the season. 

Cebrian, Bakacs, Blesoff, and Ellis each collected a pair of hits for Wellesley, who received a nine strikeout, complete game effort from pitcher Sarah Schwartzmeyer. 

In the opener, Smith got two hits and an RBI from Kirstie Beaton (Osterville, Mass./Barnstable), but three errors in the field sent Smith to a 12-2 defeat. 

After the Blue opened the scoring with four runs in the first inning, Smith sent eight batters to the plate, starting with Goodman's leadoff single.  Tocci was hit by a pitch to put two runners on, and after Tessa Clark (Calais, Maine/Calais) struck out, O'Brien singled to shallow center to load the bases.  Beaton followed with a drive up the middle that scored Goodman, and Chelsie Biluck (Delran, N.J./Delran) smacked a single to center that sent Tocci home and cut the lead to 4-2. 

The Blue got four more runs in each of the second and third innings to pull away, but there was room for one defensive gem from Smith.  In the bottom of the fourth, Ellis hit a deep drive, but Durkin cast caution to the wind, smacking into the center field fence but preserving the second out of the inning with a warning track catch.

Blesoff had three RBI for Wellesley, and Goldfarb had three hits.  Lindsay Johnson tossed a complete game seven hitter, striking out five.  Clark and Abagael Shrader (Tiffin, Iowa/Clear Creek Amana) split time in the circle for Smith - Clark went 2.1 innings and allowed 12 runs, of which only five were earned.  Shrader pitched 2.2 innings of hitless relief.

Smith will continue their NEWMAC schedule with a doubleheader date at Babson College tomorrow at noon.  Wellesley will be at WPI, also on Saturday at noon.