BALTIMORE, MD. – Freshman third baseman
Kate Richard, junior outfielder
Sydney Harbaugh and junior first baseman
Taylor Chaffee all homered, leading Binghamton (16-16, 7-5 AE) to an 8-5, 5-2 sweep of UMBC (21-22, 7-4 AE) in an America East doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at the UMBC Softball Field. The Bearcats have now won their past three games as well as four out of their last six contests.
Richard capped a four-run top of the first inning for the Bearcats in the opener with a three-run home run. Scoring on the play was junior catcher
Lisa Cadogan, who singled home Binghamton's other run.
Tori Alexander led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run and the Retrievers tacked on another run later in the frame. Binghamton, however, plated a pair of unearned runs in the top of the second inning to go up 6-2.
Harbaugh belted a two-run shot in the top of the fourth inning, stretching Binghamton's lead to 8-2.
UMBC finally got their offense back on track in the bottom of the seventh inning. A two-run home run by Katelin Jackson pulled the Retrievers to within 8-4. Alexander made it 8-5 on a RBI single but UMBC left the bases loaded at the end of the game.
Junior pitcher
Cara Martin, who came on in the fourth inning, improved to 8-4. Jessica Holte, who was knocked out of the game after Harbaugh's home run, fell to 13-9.
The Bearcats were nursing a 1-0 lead in the second game when Chaffee belted a two-run home run in the top of the third inning. One inning later, Binghamton took advantage of a throwing error to plate its fourth run of the game.
UMBC got a run back in the bottom of the fourth inning on a home run by Carly Lesko. Cadogan, however, gave the Bearcats a 5-1 lead on a RBI single in the top of the sixth inning.
Freshman pitcher
Sarah Miller got the win, upping her record to 6-6. Miranda Clark was tagged with the loss, dropping her record to 2-4 on the season.
Sophomore outfielder
Gabby Bracchi hit a team-best .600 on the day (3-for-5) and scored three times. Richard and freshman outfielder
Jessica Rutherford both finished 3-for-7 (.429) while Harbaugh was 2-for-5 (.400) and scored three times.
The two teams will conclude their weekend series with a single game at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The start time was originally scheduled for noon, but was pushed back an hour due to the weather.
