HARRISONBURG, Va. – Redshirt junior third baseman
Shelby Carvalho homered twice and drove in three runs, highlighting Binghamton's split in the first day of the James Madison/Wieler Softball Tournament. The Bearcats (11-5) defeated St. Joseph's (5-11) 7-2 in the first game before losing 9-0 in five innings to the host Dukes (13-7).
Carvalho's two homers came in the opener against the Hawks. It marked the first time that a Binghamton player has homered twice in a game since
Alli Richmond against Hartford on May 1, 2022. Carvalho finished the day 2-for-6 at the plate (.333).
On the mound, the Bearcats were led by sophomore pitcher
Brianna Roberts, who scattered one run on two hits and struck out six batters against the Hawks to record the complete-game victory. Her record for the season is now 3-3.
In her last three appearances (16.1 innings), Roberts has gone 2-0 with a save, has allowed only one run and struck out 19 batters. She is the current America East Pitcher of the Week and against St. Joseph's, lowered her ERA to a career-best 1.88.
Redshirt junior designated player
Brianna Santos, meanwhile, finished the day 4-for-7 (.571) with an RBI and a pair of doubles. Hitting a team-best .600 (3-for-5) during the two games was sophomore outfielder
Bella Farina. All three of her hits were doubles.
Santos opened the scoring against St. Joseph's with an RBI double in the top of the second inning. She scored one batter later on a two-run single by redshirt junior outfielder
Lindsey Walter.
The Bearcats padded their lead to 4-0 in the top of the fourth inning on a fielder's choice RBI by senior first baseman
Allison L'Amoreaux. In the bottom of the same inning, however, the Hawks finally got on the scoreboard when Sarah Cancila hit a solo home run.
Carvalho hit a two-run home run in the top of the fifth inning, stretching the Binghamton lead to 6-1. She then led off the top of the seventh inning with her second homer in as many at bats.
While Carvalho's two homers represented her career high, the win over St. Joseph's marked her third career game with three RBI. She now has a team-best four home runs so far this season.
Roberts helped her cause at the plate by going 1-for-2 and drawing a pair of walks in the win over the Hawks. She continues to lead Binghamton with a .364 batting average so far this season.
Taking the loss for St. Joseph's was Taylor Trowbridge, whose record dropped to 1-3.
In the second game of the day, however, it was James Madison that broke out the bats with nine runs in four innings. Jasmine Hall and Hallie Hall combined to drive in six of the Dukes' nine runs. Hallie homered and drove in four runs while Jasmine had a two-run double.
On the mound, Alissa Humphrey and Rebecca Muh held the Bearcats to just two hits and five total base runners in 5.0 innings. Humphrey went the first four innings and improved her record to 5-2. Sophomore pitcher
Olivia Kennedy was tagged with the loss, dropping her record to 2-1.
The Bearcats finished the two games with a .306 batting average (15-of-49). Seven of Binghamton's hits went for extra bases.
Binghamton continues play at the James Madison Invitational on Saturday with games against Radford at 11 a.m. and a rematch against the Dukes at 1:30 p.m.
