Coast Guard Wins NEWMAC Softball Championship

The Coast Guard Academy won three softball games against Babson College and Springfield College on Saturday to capture the NEWMAC Tournament title and advance the NCAA competition. The Bears also earned All-New England honors at the New England Championships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The following information was provided by Jason Southard, sports information director at the Coast Guard Academy:

Softball: Coast Guard 5, Babson 2; Coast Guard 11, Babson 0; Coast Guard 8, Springfield 5

Senior All-American and tournament Most Outstanding Player Hayley Feindel became the NCAA Division III all-time wins leader and for the second straight season Coast Guard won three games in one day to capture its third straight New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship at Springfield College.

Feindel fired three shutouts last year on the final day to the tournament to give the Bears the championship.

This season, Coast Guard becomes the first sixth seed to win the NEWMAC Championship.

In the first game of the day, the Bears trailed top-seeded Springfield 4-2 in the last inning before scoring twice in the seventh and going on to win 8-4 in eight innings to earn a spot in the championship round.

Coast Guard’s offense picked up right where it left off with an 11-0 five inning win over Babson in the first championship game before beating the second-seeded Beavers 5-2 to win its third straight NEWMAC Championship. Babson had won all three meetings this season with Coast Guard including a 14-10 win on the first day of the tournament.

The Bears (26-17), who had to win five straight tournament games to capture the championship, get the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament, making their fourth straight tournament appearance. The pairings and site will be announced on Monday morning at 10 a.m.

It looked as if the Bears would be knocked out in the first game of the day, trailing 4-2 with just three outs to go, but freshman Erin Lisko had a one-out single. Sophomore Devin Fellman’ RBI double made the score 4-3 before senior Maddie Buchert’s RBI single tied the game 4-4.

In the eighth, senior Jamie Kim’s two-out RBI single scored gave the Bears a 5-4 lead. Lisko followed with a single before Fellman blasted a three-run homer to left for the 8-4 lead. Springfield scored just one in the home half as the Bears won 8-5.

Feindel, pitching with a broken finger, allowed seven hits and five runs while walking three and striking out 11 in picking up the win in the first game of the afternoon.

Fellman had three hits, a single, double and homer, in the opener while Richardson and Lisko each added two hits in the win. Richardson set the single-season school record with her 42 run scored, she finished the day with 45 runs scored.

Kim came up big again in the next game with a two-run double in the second for a 2-0 lead. The Bears exploded for five runs in the third on a two-run double by sophomore Kaitlin Ward for a 4-0 lead. Freshman Chloe Harmon and Kim added RBI ground outs before an RBI single by Lisko pushed the lead to 7-0.

Ward had an RBI single in the fourth before Harmon hit a three-run homer to left as the Bears led 11-0.

Feindel allowed just three hits and struck out six in the win which gave her 121 for her career breaking the NCAA Division III record of 120 held by Erica Hoyt of Muskingum (2003-06). She finished the day with 122 wins.

Buchert had three hits while Richardson, Ward, Harmon and Lisko each had two hits in the game two win. Harmon drove in four runs while Kim and Ward each had three RBI’s.

In the second championship game, Bastinck’s three-run homer highlighted a four-run first and that was all Feindel would need. Bastinck was 4 for 4 in the win while Fellman added a pair of hits for the Bears.

The All-American scattered nine hits and allowed a pair of runs while walking two and fanning two to pick up her third win of the day to improve to 19-8 on the season.

Kim set the Coast Guard Academy career record by playing in the 171st game of her career when the day was done.

Lisko, Buchert, Fellman and Bastinck led the Bears with five hits each on the day.

Track and Field

Senior Trevor Siperek placed second in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 9:01.94 and Coast Guard had five athletes earn All-New England honors at the Division III New England Track and Field Championships at MIT.

Senior Kevin O’Brien broke the school record in the 10,000 meters and finished eighth with a time of 31:46.34.

Sophomore Ben Wolhaupter took sixth in the pole vault (14-5.25) while freshman Ben Hannon was sixth in the 400 meters with a personal best time of 49.68.

Junior Will Baker finished eighth in the discus (141-6) and sophomore Clay Kosack was ninth in the decathlon with 5,061 points.

The top eight finishers earn All-New England honors.

On the women's team, sophomore Abby Bishop placed fourth in the heptathlon with a score of 3,942 points to earn All-New England honors.

Freshman Beth Gollin broke the school record in the 3,000 meter steeplechase and qualified for the All-New England Championships running the race for just the second time finishing ninth with a time of 11:20.18.

Sophomore Moira McNeil ran a personal best of 41:22.65 in the 10,000 meters while classmate Hannah Seeland threw personal best of 138 feet, five inches in the hammer.

Also for the Bears, freshman Kyle Sutschek placed ninth in the discus (120-8).