Binghamton softball played in the Auburn War Eagle Classic this weekend, dropping another four games on the road. The team is now on an eight-game losing streak, after winning its only game during the season opener.

“Tough weekend for us,” wrote Binghamton head coach Jess Bump. ”We played against some tough competition — but lost some games we could have won with a few less errors and timely hitting with runners in scoring position. From a pitching standpoint — free bases are where we need to get better. It’s early in the season so we just have to find our groove.”

Friday’s first match saw Binghamton (1-8) take on Illinois (3-7), where they soon fell 4-0 in the top of the third. In the bottom of the inning, sophomore infielder Emilia Podeszwa answered with a solo home run, but Illinois tacked onto its lead with another run in the fourth.

An RBI double from junior infielder Elisa Allen and a two-run home run courtesy of junior utility Maddy Dodig brought the Bearcats within one. However, the Fighting Illini had a breakout fifth inning to put them ahead 10-4. Binghamton was unable to catch up and fell at a final score of 11-5.

“[Allen] looked better this weekend,” Bump wrote. “She’s a key part of our lineup, and we need her to continue to progress and get comfortable, which she is heading towards.”

Friday’s second match against Bradley (3-6) saw the Bearcats take a 1-0 lead in the third, but another breakout fifth inning from their opponents saw them quickly fall behind 4-1. After Allen tacked on another run in the fifth with a solo home run, the Braves added yet another four runs in the sixth, going up 8-2.

As Bradley added one more run in the seventh, the Bearcats were unable to claw their way back. Their only additional run came from a solo home run shot thanks to sophomore infielder Madi Ringus, leading to a final score of 9-3.

“From a defensive standpoint we need to be able to stop the spiral,” Bump wrote. “Errors are going to happen in our game, but we have to do a better job bouncing back right after. I think we let the game get too big this weekend, and felt pressure in situations where we didn’t need to.”

Saturday’s games didn’t bode much better for the Bearcats, as they dropped both of their matches against Campbell (7-2) and Auburn (9-2). In its first game against the Camels, Binghamton went down early as its opponents took a 3-0 lead by the second inning. The Bearcats answered with five runs over the next three innings to go up 5-3 by the top of the fifth, but a bases-clearing triple from Campbell in the sixth put them back up 6-5, where Binghamton was unable to rally and ultimately lost.

Saturday night’s game against Auburn saw the Bearcats get outscored 11-1 over the first three innings, with Binghamton’s lone score coming from a home run by sophomore infielder Rachel Carey and forcing a mercy rule to end their tournament.

“It will be good to have a weekend off to revive and rejuvenate and get to work on some things we need to improve on going into another tough weekend at Coastal Carolina,” Bump wrote. “In practice, our defense needs to sharpen up, offense needs to feel some pressure and be better with runners in scoring position, and our pitchers need to get back to pounding the zone and trusting their stuff.”

The Bearcats will look to bounce back in two weeks when they compete in the Coastal Carolina Tournament. First pitch is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. at St. John Stadium in Conway, South Carolina, where Binghamton will play Florida Atlantic University.