The Binghamton softball team came back from this weekend’s series against Boston with some good news and some bad news. The good news: history was made. Twice. The bad news: the Bearcats lost. Twice.
After sweeping Army last week, the Bearcats (10-28, 3-11 AE) met the Terriers (22-23, 8-6 AE) for a three-game America East Conference series. The Bearcats won the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader 10-2 before dropping the nightcap 12-3 and Sunday’s rubber match 7-4.
“We started out great,” said senior second baseman Nicole Vitello. “As the weekend went on, the hits just weren’t coming as easily for us. It was harder to get runs up on the scoreboard.”
Binghamton was led in the opener by senior pitcher Katie Hansen who won her third straight start. Hansen struck out five and allowed only two runs on six hits.
“Katie did a great job for us,” Vitello said. “She got a lot of important outs for us when we were in tight situations.”
The first of two milestones happened in the top of the fifth when senior shortstop Rose Barre recorded her fifth triple of the season, tying Mollie Lehman for the best mark in school history. Lehman had five triples in 1998. The record must have been the last thing on Barre’s mind though — she didn’t realize she broke the record until asked about it.
“I’m rocking Mollie’s No. 20 jersey, so it’s great I could be the one to do it,” Barre said.
History would be made again to start the nightcap as Vitello drilled a two-run home run in the top of the first inning. The blast gave Binghamton a 2-0 lead and gave Vitello the record for most career homers (17), breaking the previous record of 16 set by former catcher Jessica Chellis (now assistant coach).
“I was really happy when I hit it because it put us ahead,” Vitello said. “If it also happens to break a record then that’s cool too. I just want to help get some more wins under our belt.”
Boston, however, tied the game in the bottom half of the inning and would add 10 runs over the next three innings.
In the rubber game, the Bearcats would again squander an early 2-0 lead as Boston scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning. While junior catcher Mia Bieman’s two-run homer in the sixth cut the deficit to one, the Terriers added two insurance runs in the bottom of the inning to seal the victory.
“Our tanks were full but we had a little trouble putting it in the right gear,” said junior outfielder Amanda Dorrell.
Binghamton heads to UMBC tomorrow for another America East Conference doubleheader at 2 p.m. The Bearcats will no doubt look for revenge after they were swept by the Retrievers on April 12.
“You know what they say about payback,” Vitello said. “We plan on doing just that.”