BALTIMORE, MD. – Junior outfielder
Jessica Rutherford finished 7-for-8 with a home run and eight RBI, powering Binghamton (9-14, 2-0 AE) to an 11-5, 10-3 sweep at UMBC (14-18, 0-2 AE) in an America East softball doubleheader on Sunday afternoon.
In addition to batting a torrid .875 during the day, Rutherford also set the Binghamton program record with five hits in the first game. The previous mark of four hits had been reached 14 times, most recently by current senior shortstop
Crysti Eichner against Buffalo on April 27, 2016.
With a double and a triple to go along with her home run, Rutherford's slugging percentage for the afternoon was a blistering 1.625. She also drew a walk to finish with a .889 on-base percentage.
Rutherford now has a 10-game hitting streak, which ties the longest such performance of her career. During that stretch, she has driven in 17 runs. For the season, she is batting a team-best .437.
Against UMBC on Sunday, however, Rutherford was far from the only Binghamton player to come through. Junior designated player Carrie Mannicia was 4-for-6 (.667) and scored four runs while senior outfielder
Gabby Bracchi finished the day 6-for-10 (.600). Freshman catcher Sara Heskowitz, meanwhile, went 3-for-6 (.500) with a home run. As a team, the Bearcats hit .441.
"We worked well as a team today and were completely focused every inning," head coach Michelle Johnston said. "We were working to have productive at-bats and everyone had a great presence at the plate. Our pitchers and defense also came up with some big outs to kill any momentum they had."
Rutherford's 5-for-5 performance in the opener started in the top of the first inning with a double. She scored two batters later on a two-run single by senior outfielder
Bridget Hunt, which put the Bearcats ahead 2-0.
After the Retrievers got a run back in the top of the first inning, the Bearcats tacked on four more runs in the top of the second inning. Rutherford had the key hit of the frame with a two-run triple.
A pair of RBI singles by Rutherford produced the next two runs for the Bearcats. Her first one came in the top of the third inning and the next one came in the fifth inning.
UMBC pulled to within 8-5 in the bottom of the fifth inning but Binghamton padded the lead with three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Rutherford got her record-breaking hit when she singled home the first run. She scored one batter later on a double by junior third baseman
Kate Richard. Hunt capped the scoring when she tripled home Richard.
Freshman pitcher
Rozlyn Price got the win to improve to 3-7 while Jessica Holte saw her record fall to 4-6.
Binghamton finished the first game with a season-high 17 hits. In addition, the Bearcats' three triples marked its second-best total in program history. The program record of four triples came against Oneonta back on May 1, 1994.
In the nightcap, Binghamton broke open a scoreless game with five runs in the top of the third inning. Once again, Rutherford had the big hit of the frame with a two-run single.
Both teams scored twice in the fourth inning but the Retrievers added a run in the bottom of the sixth inning, creeping to within 7-3.
Rutherford's final at bat of the day was a leadoff home run in the top of the seventh inning, increasing the Bearcats' lead to 8-3. Later in the frame, Herskowitz and Eichner hit back-to-back solo home runs.
Sophomore pitcher
Allison Pritchard won her first decision of the year. The loss was tagged to Kim Puccio, who is now 5-6.
Richard finished the day with five RBI while Hunt was 4-for-9 (.444) and drove in four runs.
Binghamton heads to Syracuse on Wednesday for a non-conference doubleheader.
NOTES: Rutherford's previous 10-game hitting streak came from March 13-29, 2016 … Richard has driven in a team-high 27 RBI. She entered the weekend ranked first in the America East in that statistical category … the last time Binghamton hit back-to-back home runs came when
Sydney Harbaugh and Rutherford both went deep against Niagara on March 31, 2016. That was also the last time the Bearcats as a team homered
