In what many expected to be a breakout season, Binghamton University softball hasn’t disappointed. With a 5-4 performance over break, the Bearcats (20-15, 8-3 America East) have already tied their second-best conference win total with six AE games to go.
Since April 14, the Binghamton women’s softball team has compiled a 7-4 record, highlighted by a sweep of Colgate University and a series win over University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
In the first of two games against Colgate, Binghamton used sophomore Jessica Phillips’ 11th home run of the season to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. The Bearcats added another run in the second, when freshman Anna Blessing stole home. Colgate had an opportunity to tie the game in the top of the fifth after a wild pitch by junior Kristen Emerling allowed two Raiders runners to advance to second and third with two outs. However, Emerling responded by inducing a groundball out to junior third baseman Colleen Whitaker.
That sequence practically summed up Emerling’s performance, in which she surrendered at least one hit in every inning but subsequently returned to the dugout with little or no damage.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Bearcats used a leadoff walk by junior Meghan Tucker and singles by sophomore Shannon Kane and Phillips to load the bases with no outs. Colgate pitcher Michelle Hollebeke plunked senior Deannie Plemon, and Tucker crossed the plate. Senior Stephanie DeLuca followed with a sacrifice fly to right field, which scored Kane and Phillips and gave Binghamton a commanding 5-0 lead.
With her team leading 5-1 entering the seventh, freshman Demi Laney allowed a leadoff single, and with one out surrendered a two-run home run, which reduced Binghamton’s lead to 5-3. Colgate loaded the bases with two outs, but Laney induced a grounder to freshman shortstop Jessica Bump to end the game.
In the second game, the Bearcats scored all of their runs on one hit, but it proved to be enough. Plemon hit her first career grand slam in the third inning to give Binghamton a 4-2 lead, and the Bearcats held on for the 4-3 victory. Three pitchers combined for Binghamton to strike out six over seven innings.
In their next series Binghamton visited UMBC for a three-game set. BU fell behind 3-0 in the first inning of Game 1 and couldn’t recover, falling 7-5. Emerling struggled, allowing five runs over just 3.1 innings. In Game 2 of the doubleheader, the Bearcats enacted some revenge, earning the 8-0 win in six innings. Binghamton scored all eight runs in the latter three innings. Sophomores Rhoda Marsteller and Kate Price combined for a four-hit shutout, though they only recorded one total strikeout.
In the rubber game of the series, Binghamton put up another lopsided win, this time 10-1 in five innings. UMBC scored one in the first off Marsteller, but it was all Bearcats from there. Binghamton scored three in the second and blew the game open with a five-run fourth. It was a team effort for BU, as five different Bearcats knocked in a run, though none had more than two RBI.
Next up for Binghamton were a pair of midweek non-conference doubleheaders. First up was 28-win University of Maryland. Despite facing an elite opponent, the Bearcats hung tight, falling 5-0 and 3-2. In Game 1 Binghamton recorded just three hits, and Marsteller was rocked for five runs over two innings. All five were scored in the first inning. The bright spot was Emerling, who tossed four shutout innings. In Game 2, Binghamton jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a two-run single by Plemon and held a 2-1 lead going into the fifth. Maryland tied the game in the fifth, and the teams stayed tied going into the ninth. After Binghamton squandered a leadoff walk in the top of the ninth, Maryland scored a run off Price in the bottom of the frame to win the game.
The losing streak stretched to three in BU’s first game against 27-win Longwood University. Marsteller struggled again, giving up seven runs over four innings as Binghamton lost 8-0 in five innings. Kane had the lone hit for Binghamton in that game. The Bearcats turned the tide in Game 2, winning 11-9 in eight innings. The squads traded three-run first innings, and were tied at five after three innings. BU held a 7-6 advantage heading into the seventh inning, but Longwood scored an unearned run in the inning to tie the game. In the top of the eighth, the Binghamton bats came through, utilizing four hits and an error to score four runs. Longwood made things interesting in the bottom of the inning, with a two-run inside-the-park home run to cut the lead to 11-9. Longwood would bring the potential winning run to the plate, but with a caught stealing and a strikeout Binghamton held on for the win.
The Bearcats ended their spring break stretch of games by hosting AE foe University of Maine for a doubleheader. Marsteller allowed five runs over three innings, but Price threw four shutout innings to keep the Bearcats in it. Maine led 5-3 going into the fifth inning, when Plemon hit a leadoff home run to cut the lead to one, and Tucker hit an RBI single to tie the game at five. Binghamton would win the game when a double steal and subsequent bad throw would allow the winning run to score, leading to a 6-5 final.
In the second game, Binghamton took command early, leading 5-0 after two innings en route to a 7-3 victory. Maine scored all three runs in the sixth off Emerling, who threw a complete game. Tucker, Plemon and Phillips each had a home run in the victory.
At 8-3 the Bearcats are tied for second in the conference and are just three wins off their all-time record set in 2002.
Binghamton is scheduled to face Syracuse University in a non-conference doubleheader on Thursday. First pitch of Game 1 is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.