ALBANY, N.Y. – Sophomore outfielder Jessica Rutherford drove in three runs while senior first baseman Lisa Cadogan and sophomore second baseman Stephanie Bielec each had a pair of RBI, powering Binghamton (30-13, 12-3 AE) to a 10-2, five-inning win at Albany (30-14, 10-3 AE) in an America East softball game on Sunday morning at Albany Field. With the victory, the Bearcats take two out of three games in the weekend series and move into sole possession of first place in the conference with one week to go in the regular season.
Rutherford, who finished the series a team-best .545 (6-for-11), had the hit that put the Bearcats ahead for good. With two outs in the top of the top of the second inning, she delivered a two-run single.
Bielec, who was 3-for-4 on Sunday, started off a five-run top of the fourth inning with a two-run triple. She scored one batter later on a RBI single by Rutherford. Cadogan and senior catcher
Taylor Chaffee then followed with RBI doubles, padding the lead to 8-2.
One inning later, sophomore third baseman
Kate Richard led off with her eighth home run of the season. Later in the inning, a sacrifice fly by Cadogan gave the Bearcats an eight-run cushion.
Sophomore pitcher
Sarah Miller improved to 14-6 with the victory. After allowing a two-run double to Donna Conrad in the bottom of the first inning, she held the Great Danes scoreless the rest of the game. Devin Durando fell to 15-7 with the loss.
Richard finished the game 2-for-3 and scored a pair of runs.
Junior outfielder
Gabby Bracchi, meanwhile, scored a team-high three runs. In the process, she set Binghamton's single season record with 50 runs. She entered Sunday's game tied with current senior outfielder
Sydney Harbaugh, who scored 47 runs last season.
The Bearcats came into Sunday having held on for a 10-8 win in the first game on Saturday against the Great Danes before losing 10-2 in five innings in the nightcap.
"I was really happy with the adjustments we made from yesterday," head coach
Michelle Burrell said. "Offensively, we worked to pressure early on and continued to do so when they made pitching changes. I thought Sarah threw a really good game and the defense played well behind her."
RIchard finished the weekend 4-for-9 (.444) while Bielec was .400 (4-for-10). As a team, the Bearcats hit .319 over the three games and are batting .347 for the season.
The Bearcats have one more weekend series to play, at home next weekend against Hartford. The Great Danes, travel to Stony Brook.
Before those games, however, Binghamton hosts Syracuse in a single game on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
NOTES: Binghamton reaches the 30-win mark for the second time in four seasons. The Bearcats finished the 2013 campaign 30-17 ... Miller's win total ties the seventh-highest, single-season total in program history ... Rutherford's 39 RBI is the fifth-best single-season mark in program history.
