DUDLEY, Mass. (May 11, 2025) – The Golden Bears and Bison took to the diamond on Sunday morning in Dudley, Massachusetts, with a spot in the NCAA tournament on the line. Both pitchers had outstanding performances, but Riley Kane's two-hit complete game and Ava Barnhart's walk-off single in the eighth inning were enough to help WNE punch their ticket to the NCAA national tournament.

CNE Championship Game: Western New England 1, Nichols 0 (8 Innings)

The CNE Championship game began at 11:00 AM, with Riley Kane in the pitching circle for the Golden Bears and Chelsea Indyk opposing Kane in the Bison's pitching circle. In the first inning, the Bison got their first hit of the game with two outs, but Kane got the final out to bring the Golden Bears to the plate for the first time. Indyk saw three batters and got all three out, with the final batter striking out. Kane faced four more Bison in the second, and one got on via an error, but Kane battled through and got the final out of the inning with a Bison runner on third. The Golden Bears got their first two hits of the game in the second inning but could not get the runners home, with Indyk getting the final batter to strike out once again. Kane settled in during the third inning, getting all three Bison batters to ground out. That was followed by the Golden Bears having runners on first and third with two outs in the third, but Indyk got the final batter to pop out after picking up a third strikeout for the second out of the inning. Kane continued the pitching excellence with three more consecutive outs in the fourth inning. The Golden Bears had another hit in the bottom of the fourth, but Indyk ended the inning with a strikeout to strand another WNE runner on base. Indyk had two strikeouts that inning and was up to five total strikeouts in the game. The Bison got their first batter on base during the fifth inning but could not advance the batter past second, and the score stayed stuck at zero. The Golden Bears once again got two batters on base, but Indyk kept WNE scoreless once again after getting another batter to pop out. In the sixth inning, the Bison got their second hit of the game. However, once again, Kane would get out of the two-out runner on third-base position with a ground out. Chelsea Indyk would not let the Golden Bears build any momentum with a one, two, three inning, striking out another batter. The seventh inning started with Riley Kane answering with a one, two, three inning for WNE. Then, the Golden Bears had a runner on second after two more Chelsea Indyk strikeouts. However, the final WNE batter grounded out, and the contest went to extra innings. Kane dealt with the Bison one, two, three for a second consecutive inning and fourth of the game. Kane picked up a strikeout versus the second batter. Then, in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Golden Bears would load the bases thanks to three singles. With two outs in the inning, Ava Barnhart walked up to the plate. Barnhart already had two game-winning hits in the CNE tournament, and one walk-off hit. Barnhart would slap a single into right-center field, winning the game for the Golden Bears. They became back-to-back champions thanks to the walk-off single from Ava Barnhart. WNE won the championship contest 1-0 in eight innings and is going to the NCAA tournament.

Around the Diamond:

• The Golden Bears were led by a 3-for-4 performance at the plate from Nicolina Salanto.
• Marley Rodriguez also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4.
• Seven WNE batters had a hit during the game, with Ava Barnhart's hit being the only RBI of the game for either team.
• Riley Kane pitched a two-hit, one-strikeout, no earned runs, complete game for the Golden Bears to earn the win.
• Ava Slavinsky and Chloe Steiniger each had a hit for the Bison.
• Chelsea Indyk pitched 7.2 innings, giving up ten hits and one earned run, striking out eight Golden Bears.
• The Golden Bears defeated the Bison 1-0 in eight innings to win the CNE conference championship for the second year in a row.

Up Next:

The WNE Golden Bear softball team moves on to the NCAA tournament. The selection show, which will inform the team where and when they will be playing next week, is on Monday, May 12, 2025, at 11:00 AM. The Golden Bears' first game of the tournament will be on Thursday, May 15, 2025.