Local Colleges: Tourneys continue this weekend

A busy tournament weekend is ahead for local college sports teams.

Mitchell College and Coast Guard Academy softball, UConn-Avery Point baseball and Connecticut College men's lacrosse are all playing in conference tournaments.

Here's a look at each team's tournament path:

• Mitchell College beat Becker College, 3-1, Wednesday to move on to the next round of the New England Collegiate Conference Championship.

The second-seeded Mariners (20-13) face No. 3 Daniel Webster (21-17) at noon today in the double elimination tournament at Wellesley College. Win or lose, the Mariners will play a second game today.

They've won 13 straight games behind the pitching of senior Marissa Thomas, a St. Bernard graduate from New London.

"We want to try to win it," Thomas said of the NECC title. "This is my last year. My whole team wants to do it. I have a lot of faith in my team. And our coach (Jillian Ortega) has a lot of faith in us."

"Hopefully, we'll come home with some wins."

To win their first NECC championship, the Mariners will likely have to defeat top-seeded Lesley University (25-10).

• Coast Guard has relied on a fighting spirit, timely hitting and pitching of All-American Hayley Feindel to stay alive in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference tournament.

The sixth-seeded Bears (23-17) will play top-seeded Springfield in the losers' bracket final at noon Saturday in Springfield. The winner will have to beat No. 2 Babson twice to win the championship.

Babson handed Coast Guard its only loss in the tournament, scoring a 14-10 win on April 24. The Bears won two games last Saturday - 4-0 over WPI and 5-2 in eight innings over Wellesley - to keep in the title chase.

Feindel (16-8, 1.78 earned run average) has battled a broken finger on her pitching hand all season. She needs one win to tie the Division III all-time victory mark of 120.

• Avery Point took a more difficult route than usual to the NJCAA Division II New England tournament series, needing a strong finish to secure a berth.

The Pointers (29-14), who've won seven of the last eight New England titles, open play today at 4 p.m. at Community College of Rhode Island (29-10). Game two is noon Saturday and the if necessary game would be at 4 p.m. Monday. All games are in Warwick, R.I.

During the regular season, Avery Point lost three of four against CCRI.

• Conn College is one of the hottest teams in the New England Small College Athletic Conference tournament.

The Camels (10-5) take a five-game winning streak into Saturday's semifinal at fifth-ranked and top-seeded Tufts (14-2) in Medford, Mass. Game time is noon.

Tufts won the regular season meeting, 16-9, on March 13.

Junior midfielder John Lyons, an All-NESCAC second team pick, leads the fourth-seeded Camels with 29 goals and junior Andrew Freedman has 21 goals and 13 assists. Senior defender Clay Hillyer also is an all-conference second team selection.

The winner advances to the championship on Sunday in Medford, Mass.