ITHACA, N.Y. – Junior Hailey Ehlers doubled home the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning, lifting Binghamton (14-7) to a 3-2 win over Cornell (8-9) in a non-conference softball game on Tuesday afternoon at Nieman-Robison Field. With the extra-inning victory, the Bearcats have now won five straight contests and remain off to their best start since 1997.

Ehlers, who went 2-for-4 on the day, smacked her one-out double off the left-center field fence, scoring sophomore outfielder Sarah Rende from second base. Rende had led off the frame with a single – but took second base on an overthrow.

Redshirt sophomore utility player Lindsey Walter then retired the side in the bottom of the eighth inning to lock up the win. She tossed a pair of scoreless innings -retiring all six batters she faced – to improve her record to 4-1 and lower her ERA to 1.22.

Walter also came through at the plate – going 2-for-4 with a pair of bunt singles. Her batting average is now .520 so far this season.

Also finishing the day 2-for-4 were Rende and graduate student second baseman Alli Richmond.

Richmond and sophomore utility player Brianna Santos each delivered RBI singles in the top of the first inning, giving the Bearcats an early 2-0 lead. Sophomore outfielder Laney Harbaugh, who led off the game with a single, scored the first run and Walter plated the second one.

The Big Red trimmed the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning on a RBI single by Emma Antich down the left field line. One inning later, Lauren Holt tied the score at 2-2 on a solo home run over the right field fence.

From there, however, the Bearcats retired the final eight batters of the game.

Taking the loss for Cornell was Kyrie Denny, who is now 2-4.

"Our bats were really good all day but in the last two innings were the hardest we've hit the ball in the last week," head coach Jess Bump said. "Sarah did a great job on getting to second base on the overthrow to start the inning and Hailey then had that big double with a two-strike count. This was a really good win for us."

Walter stretched her hitting streak to five games and her scoreless streak on the mound to 7.1 innings. She has not allowed a run in her last three appearances.

Santos also has a five-game hitting streak as well as a team-best 22 RBI.

Rende, who was named the America East Player of the Week earlier in the day, has now gone 8-for 11 (.727) in her last three games.

Binghamton heads to UMBC for a three-game America East series this coming Saturday-Sunday.

NOTES: Binghamton has 10+ hits in each of the past four games. The Bearcats have averaged 10.4 hits during their five-game winning streak … the Bearcats have won their past two games in the final inning of play … Binghamton was 17-4 through 21 games in 1997. Known then as the Colonials, it competed at the NCAA Division III level at the time.