Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 BOSTON – The Smith College softball team suffered a pair of close New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference losses on the road Sunday to the MIT Engineers.

In the first game, Smith held a 1-0 lead after 4 1/2 innings, but MIT struck for the equalizer in the fifth, and followed with the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning to earn a 2-1 victory.

Edie Richardson (Franklin, Mass./Fontbonne Academy) hit her second home run of the season to lead off the top of the second, giving the Pioneers a 1-0 advantage. The score remained that way until the bottom of the fifth, when MIT scored a run on two hits to tie the contest, 1-1.

Smith had an opportunity in the top half of the eighth, as a passed ball advanced the lead runner to third with two outs. The Engineers, however, induced a grounder to get out of the jam and went on to score the winning run on an error by the Pioneers' outfield.

Rowan Turner (Prairie Village, Kan./Shawnee Mission East) pitched the first five innings for Smith. She allowed just one earned run on six hits with three strikeouts. Ellie Fodor earned the win after starting and throwing seven innings in the circle for MIT. She allowed one earned run on six hits with eight strikeouts and two walks.

Richardson led the Pioneers at the plate in the first game with two hits in two at-bats. Richardson's second inning solo-home run was the eighth of her career. Joanna Giordano (South Salem, N.Y./John Jay), Brittney Blokker (Seattle, Wash./Ballard), Sarah Tully (West Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) and Ruth Zimmerman (Edison, N.J./John P. Stevens) each tallied a base hit in the night's first game.

Smith manufactured a run in the top of the first inning of game two, as Caroline Kushner (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire), leading off for the first time this season, promptly singled to left center to open the frame. She advanced all the way to third on a pass ball, and came into score on junior Tori Brown (New Market, Md./Linganore)'s sacrifice fly to center field.

MIT broke through with a run in the bottom of the third, utilizing a lead-off double and an infield error by the Pioneers to tie the game, 1-1.

Smith returned the favor, taking the lead, 2-1 in the top of the fifth on back-to-back doubles by Zimmerman and Blokker.

The Engineers came right back in the home half of the frame, scoring a run of their own on back-to-back doubles to once again tie the game, 2-2.

The Pioneers wasted little time in taking the lead back, as Giordano advanced to second on an infield error. After a sac bunt moved Giordano to third, Richardson roped a single back up the middle to plate the lead runner and give Smith a 3-2 advantage.

MIT had the last laugh though, walking off as winners with two-outs in the seventh, as Zoe Hinton, who entered the game in the sixth as a pinch-hitter, hit her first home run of the season to send the home team home happy.

Blokker led Smith with a 3-for-3 performance, two of which were for extra bases, at the plate in the second game. Richardson went 2-for-3 in the nightcap, while Kushner, Tully, and Zimmerman each tallied a hit.

The Pioneers (4-8, 0-4 NEWMAC) are scheduled to return to action Tuesday when they host Clark University. The first pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 3 p.m.