With a come-from-behind victory over Colgate on Thursday and wins in two of its last four games to propel it, the Binghamton University softball team’s prospects looked strong as it hosted a three-game series with the previously 2-29 Maine Black Bears this weekend. They looked even better after Briana Andrews hit a lead-off home run to start off the first game of the series.
Maine, however, retook the lead in the bottom of the first with two runs and then tacked on two more in the third.
The Bearcats (4-19, 0-4 America East) narrowed the lead to 4-3 with two runs in the fourth. Junior center fielder Sandy Meadows scored on a sacrifice fly by senior Sara Eppolito after stealing second base. Shawna Albright then scored on a passed ball in the fifth.
Maine, however, struck back with full force and blew open the game by putting up eight runs in the fifth as they defeated Binghamton 12-3.
In the second game, Alexis Souhlaris of Maine threw a five-inning, one-hit gem to shut out the Bearcats 8-0.
On Sunday, the Bearcats’ undermanned pitching staff showed signs of wear. Patty Egan started the game after pitching both games Saturday and gave up two runs in one inning of work. Jessica Whitaker, who pitched a complete game on Thursday and three two-thirds innings on Saturday, came in and allowed no runs through her first three innings of work.
The Bearcats scored their only run of the game in the fourth when Meghan Quinn crossed the plate after a throwing error. When Whitaker took the mound in the fifth, Binghamton was down 4-1, but she gave up back-to-back solo home runs before recording an out. Whitaker was relieved by Nicole Constantatos, who pitched the remainder of the game after pitching both games on Saturday. The Black Bears completed the sweep of the Bearcats with a final score of 7-1.
Tomorrow the Bearcats host a top-heavy Maryland-Baltimore County team in a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. The Golden Retrievers are led by Amanda Fefel and Ashley Gray both on the mound and on offense. Fefel has a .390 batting average and leads the team in most of the other offensive categories at the lead-off spot and is also second on the team for strikeouts with 61. Batting second, Gray leads the team in home runs with six and is the second best on the team with a 3.30 ERA. After Fefel and Gray, Krista Kearns and Lauren Brummel both have batting averages a little below .300 and about a .500 slugging percentage between the two.
The Bearcats are going to have to do a better job Wednesday of not getting behind early. The Bearcats have three days of rest between games, so the pitchers can rest their arms and prepare for UMBC, unlike when the Bearcats only had one day off to prepare for the Maine series.