HAMILTON, N.Y. – Senior outfielder
Sydney Harbaugh set the Binghamton softball all-time hit record, highlighting Binghamton's split of a non-conference doubleheader against Colgate on Tuesday afternoon at the Eaton Street Field. The Bearcats (20-10) won the opener 8-0 in five innings but lost the second game to the Raiders (5-20) 7-6 when it was called due to darkness in the top of the sixth inning.
Harbaugh entered the day with 179 career hits, just one off the mark set by Jessica Phillips from 2010-13. She got the both the tying and record-breaking hits in the opener and added another hit in the nightcap. For the day, she finished 3-for-5, scored twice and drove in three runs.
Junior outfielder
Gabby Bracchi finished the day 3-for-6, scored three times and had a pair of RBI. Sophomore outfielder
Jessica Rutherford and junior shortstop
Crysti Eichner each drove in three runs.
The Bearcats' triumph in the first game stretched their winning streak to 12 games, just one victory away from the program record of 13 consecutive victories. That mark was set by the 1995 squad and tied two seasons later.
In the opener, Binghamton plated three runs in the top of the first inning. Rutherford tripled home a pair of runs and scored one batter later on a sacrifice fly by senior catcher
Lisa Cadogan.
The Bearcats scored four more runs in the top of the fourth inning. Harbaugh delivered the big blow with a two run double. It was her 180th career hit. She went on to score the final run of the frame on a base hit by Eichner.
The record-breaking hit by Harbaugh was a two-out double into left-center field in the top of the fifth inning. Bracchi scored on the play, giving the Bearcats the cushion they needed to finish the game in five innings.
Sophomore pitcher
Sarah Miller fired a one-hit shutout and struck out six batters, improving her record to 11-5. She came within three outs of her second no hitter of the season and has now pitched 20 consecutive scoreless innings.
Kyle Griswold dropped to 1-8 with the loss.
The second game also officially ended after five innings but for very different reasons. The Bearcats were leading 8-7 in the top of the sixth inning when the game was called due to darkness. The final score went back to the end of the fifth inning, when the Bearcats were trailing 7-6.
Binghamton was down 6-2 but deadlocked the game with four runs in the top of the fifth inning. Eichner had the big hit with a two-out, two-run single to tie the score at 6-6.
The Raiders, however, came back to plate the eventual winning run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Brigit Leuter had a RBI single with no outs in the bottom of the frame.
Megan Carnase got the victory, raising her record to 1-1. The loss was tagged to freshman
Allison Pritchard, who is now 0-2.
Binghamton heads to Maine for a three-game America East series, starting with a noon doubleheader on Saturday. The two teams then wrap up the weekend with a single game on Sunday at 11 a.m.
