For the past two editions of the NEWMAC Championship, MIT has reigned supreme.

As the regular-season champion of the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference softball, the Engineers are hoping that their reign in the league’s annual postseason tournament continues.

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The 2025 NEWMAC Softball Championship gets going with a play-in game Monday and will conclude as late as Sunday as the conference’s top seven teams jostle for a coveted automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and plenty of in-league bragging rights with it.

Multiple NEWMAC teams, regardless of the bracket’s result at week’s end, will likely be popping up in NCAA Division III Softball Tournament play later this month. But before the Regionals get going, those same teams must get through their conference tournament without much trouble first.

Here’s a look ahead at the NEWMAC Softball Championship, with every game this week being streamed live and exclusively on FloCollege:

NOTE: All first pitch times are listed in Eastern Time.

No. 1 MIT Softball

Record: 25-10 overall (16-4 NEWMAC)

First game: vs. No. 4 WPI/No. 5 Wheaton winner, 4:30 p.m. Wednesday

The lowdown: After recently getting through an over 30-year drought since winning a NEWMAC regular-season title, MIT is now beginning to make being the top dog in the league a habit. 

After sweeping the NEWMAC regular-season and tournament championships in 2023 (nabbing their first outright league title ever and first one in any capacity since 1992), the Engineers secured their second NEWMAC crown in three years this spring, heavily thanks to a midseason 11-game in-conference winning streak and by far the best team batting average in the NEWMAC (.354) this season. 

Four different Engineers are batting at least .390 going into the NEWMAC Championship, setting an explosive offense up well for what could be an eighth NCAA Tournament trip in program history, all of which have come since 2015.

Impact player: Mikayla Cable, UTL

It says a lot about the strength of the MIT batting order that Cable — a two-time NFCA All-Region player and a former NEWMAC First Team All-Conference selection — has just the fourth-best batting average on the Engineers’ roster going into the conference tournament. Cable has been a vital part of a MIT program that’s made the NCAA Tournament in every season she’s been around, however, and as postseason play returns this week, you can bet that she’s going to be playing at her best yet again. 

The Florida native and career .377 hitter is slashing .395/.426/.555 as of this writing and can do it all, from hitting with power (10 extra-base hits, 27 RBIs) to showing off speed (14 stolen bases), and she holds an ongoing six-game streak of both hits and runs scored going into the Engineers’ NEWMAC Championship opener Wednesday.

No. 2 Babson Softball

Record: 24-13 (14-6)

First game: vs. No. 6 Emerson/No. 7 Coast Guard vs. No. 3 Springfield winner, 4:30 p.m. Wednesday

The lowdown: Sure, MIT may be the NEWMAC Championship’s top seed, but the Beavers, who split their regular-season series with the Engineers, have two of the conference’s best hitters and the league’s strongest pitching staff — and have a claim as the NEWMAC’s most talent-rich team going into the postseason. 

Babson won seven of its last eight conference games to close out the regular season and allowed one run or fewer in four of those victories, getting some of its best softball all season out of its dangerous one-two starting combo on the mound in hurlers Moira O’Reilly (9-5, 1.62 ERA) and Cameron Whiteford (11-6, 1.92 ERA). The Beavers can pile on the runs on top of it, too, scoring at least seven runs on eight different occasions this spring.

Impact player: Sara Moore, OF

It’s a scary sight for opposing pitchers when Moore is pacing around the basepaths for the Beavers, and for good reason. A .424 hitter this season who has knocked at least 50 hits in three different seasons, the senior speedster wrapped up the regular season as the NEWMAC’s stolen base queen, swiping 31 bags in 33 attempts as she enters the postseason with at least one steal in eight consecutive games. 

Also a patient hitter who has only struck out four times in 132 at-bats this spring, Moore — who’s been named to an All-NEWMAC First or Second Team three separate times in her decorated career with Babson — hasn’t played in a NCAA Regional game since her freshman year, but her and NEWMAC batting champion Sophia Pak (.471 average) will be the Beavers’ heavy hitters looking to change that.

No. 3 Springfield Softball

Record: 29-11 (14-6)

First game: vs. No. 6 Emerson/No. 7 Coast Guard winner, 2:30 p.m. Wednesday (at Babson)

The lowdown: Last year’s NEWMAC regular-season champion is coming into the conference tournament as the league’s hottest team over the past few weeks. Since winning both ends of a doubleheader in NEWMAC play against WPI on April 11, the Pride have gone 17-3 in their past 20 games, winning by eight runs or more in seven of those contests, including once against top-seeded MIT in the second game of a twin bill April 13. 

Springfield was the only NEWMAC team to rank among the top two in both team batting average (.314, tied-second) and ERA (2.15, second) against in-conference opponents, with the Pride finding their groove in midseason when they were able to feast upon the NEWMAC’s bottom-half squads. Can they get it done in crunch time? 

Impact player: Callie Gendron, C

Batting over .500 on the season as late as April 27, Gendron’s already-high ceiling as a force to be reckoned with in the NEWMAC has been smashed in her graduate season. 

The backstop enters the conference tournament with the NEWMAC’s second-best batting average at .462, smacking career highs in home runs (four), RBIs (37) and slugging percentage (.701) with it, while also being sure-handed on the defensive end with just one error this spring for a .994 fielding percentage — on top of nabbing eight would-be base stealers with laser throws. Springfield’s offense is usually humming along when Gendron gets going, as well; in games in which she has had multiple hits, the Pride are 15-3.

No. 4 WPI Softball

Record: 24-14 (13-7)

First game: vs. No. 5 Wheaton, 2:30 p.m. Wednesday (at MIT)

The lowdown: The Engineers have an attribute in their game that makes them the NEWMAC Championship’s arguable dark-horse going into postseason play this week: power. WPI and MIT were the NEWMAC’s only teams this season to smack double-digit home runs, and it was the former who led the league in long bombs with 29 to put them among the top-20 as of Sunday across all D-III programs. 

Throw in the fact that WPI also slugged 75 doubles and 15 triples, and its pop should serve it well with five players on the roster having hit at least four homers in the regular season. The pitching will need to step up with it, however, WPI’s current team ERA of 4.01 is the highest among all NEWMAC teams still playing. 

Impact player: Riley O’Brien, INF

Tied with teammate Emma Nagy for the NEWMAC’s individual home run lead at the end of the regular season with seven homers, O’Brien is a sophomore slugger who is batting .368 on the year and could make it back-to-back seasons with at least 40 RBIs with a long and productive Engineers postseason run. 

Seeming to hit her stride with the long ball at just the right time as she hit two homers across her final three games of the regular season (including one on the league’s best pitching staff in Babson last Thursday), O’Brien will likely play an integral role in any Engineers charge this week at the NEWMAC Championship as WPI seeks both its first conference tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance since 2022, when it made a run that year to the D-III Women’s College World Series. 

No. 5 Wheaton Softball

Record: 25-14 (10-10)

First game: vs. No. 4 WPI, 2:30 p.m. Wednesday (at MIT)

The lowdown: Though a 15-2 start to the season with an 11-game winning streak turned some heads, the Lyons faded a bit down the stretch, but still got a top-five seed in the conference tournament to avoid being sent to the play-in game. 

Having last won the NEWMAC Championship in 2004, Wheaton — currently on a decade-long NCAA Tournament drought — has a major chance this week to solidify its standing for an at-large bid to the Regional round as the Lyons are currently fifth in the NCAA’s most recent seven-team Region II rankings. Of course, Wheaton can remove all doubt by winning the NEWMAC Championship this week to guarantee a bid, and a pitching staff that tossed a league-best 11 shutouts in the regular season will be what the Lyons will rely on all week to do just that.

Impact player: Sofia De La Rosa, RHP

The Lyons’ sophomore ace began the spring with a complete-game, one-hit shutout in her team’s season-opener, and De La Rosa’s quality hasn’t really dipped much since. Holding a 14-7 record with a 1.85 ERA and eight shutouts to her name entering the postseason, De La Rosa — who has struck out more batters (125) than hits allowed (122) this season — has a tendency to perform in the clutch when the Lyons need it most on the mound. 

On the regular season’s final day, Saturday against Emerson in a crucial matchup for postseason seeding, for instance, De La Rosa’s complete-game, nine-strikeout gem gave Wheaton a major boost, as she has not allowed a home run off of her in each of her past 11 appearances in the circle.

No. 6 Emerson Softball

Record: 18-16 (10-10)

First game: vs. No. 7 Coast Guard, 3 p.m. Monday

The lowdown: Back in the NEWMAC Championship for the first time in six years, Emerson will have to win what would be its first-ever NEWMAC tournament title the hard way, being drawn to Monday’s play-in game before needing to win two games Wednesday to stay unbeaten in bracket play, should the Lions take down Coast Guard in the conference tournament opener Monday afternoon. 

The key for any Emerson surge this week, however, will be by way of doing enough in the batter’s box to get by the league’s powerful lineups; the Lions have the lowest team batting average (.271) and runs scored (142) of any team in the NEWMAC Championship field and hit a league-low two home runs, though on the flip side, their pitching staff doesn’t give up the big play often as it’s given up a league-low three homers.

Impact player: Caleigh Sheehan, RHP

Emerson’s two-way standout has saved the Lions on multiple occasions (and in multiple ways) this spring, and they’ll need her in top form as what could be as lengthy as a week-long journey to a conference tournament triumph gets underway. 

Sheehan has been most effective this spring as the Lions’ top pitcher, going 11-7 with a 2.88 ERA, a .220 opposing batting average allowed, and 129 strikeouts in 107 innings as she’s tossed 11 complete games. But combined with the fact that she’s also one of the Lions’ top options at the plate (.290 average, 15 RBIs in 93 at-bats), Sheehan has a skillset that’s unique — and dangerous — compared to most other NEWMAC stars.

No. 7 Coast Guard Softball

Record: 15-18-1 (9-11)

First game: at No. 6 Emerson, 3 p.m. Monday

The lowdown: Also drawn to the NEWMAC Championship play-in game set for Monday, Coast Guard earned the seventh and final seed in the conference tournament by way of holding the tiebreaker over Wellesley as both teams finished with identical 9-11 records in NEWMAC play. 

The Bears, once a D-III softball power who three-peated NEWMAC regular-season titles from 2009-11, are now trying to come back to their former glory by embarking on what would be a legendary return to the NCAA Regional round, should they do the improbable and get through the conference tourney bracket. Having the league’s best ace should help, as should the fact that Coast Guard has beaten both of the NEWMAC Championship’s top two seeds (MIT and Babson) in the regular season.

Impact player: Dana Walker, RHP

As the NEWMAC’s regular-season strikeouts champion (140), Walker threw the most innings (146) of any arm in the conference, yet still maintained a sub-2.00 ERA (1.92) as the Georgia native rarely ever got rattled, earning 13 wins on the mound as her performances down the stretch were vital to the Bears qualifying for the NEWMAC Championship. 

Remarkably consistent as her ERA never got above 1.94 at any point this season, Walker twirled three winning performances in her final three games of the regular season (and across only two days, no less) to help Coast Guard get over the hump, reaching double-digit strikeouts in three different appearances this spring to boot.

How To Watch The 2025 NEWMAC Softball Championship

Fans can watch all the action from the 2025 NEWMAC Softball Tournament live on FloCollege.

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