After a dominant doubleheader sweep over Albany to open America East play, the Binghamton softball team dropped their first series of the conference campaign to UMBC this weekend. After the visitors took game one with a decisive 9-6 victory, the final two contests saw late rallies from the Retrievers power them to two one-run wins over BU.

“We played tough all weekend,” wrote Binghamton head coach Jess Bump. “Scored early, went down, came back. The offense was tough and got us back into games. As we move on throughout conference play we need to clean up the defense especially in times under pressure.”

Binghamton (17-11, 3-2 AE) got the scoring started early in game one, plating their way to a 4-0 lead with runs off a pair of sacrifice flies and triples in the first two frames. From there, however, UMBC (10-21, 4-2 AE) began to key into junior pitcher Brianna Roberts. A solo bomb in the fourth put UMBC on the board before an RBI single and a grand slam in the fifth gave UMBC a 6-4 edge.

Undeterred, graduate student utility Lindsey Walter knotted the game with a two-RBI double at the top of the sixth before retiring the side to end the frame in relief of Roberts and escaping a two-runner on jam in the seventh to send it to extras. BU made the eighth frame count, as sophomore infielder Elisa Allen homered to open the frame, followed by a pair of RBI singles for insurance to give BU a 9-6 edge. Walter then forced a game-ending popout to leave three Retrievers on and cement a series-opening victory for Binghamton.

“E was in attack mode all weekend and was seeing the ball well,” Bump wrote of Allen. “She’s a natural, powerful hitter and can do big things when she’s locked in.”

The Bearcats’ bats stayed hot to open game two, with junior catcher Emma Lawson launching BU’s second homer of the series to go up 1-0, but the Retrievers leveraged a Binghamton error to plate the tying run at the bottom of the first, making it a 1-1 ballgame. Binghamton snapped the tie with Allen’s second homer of the day, but an RBI single from the Retrievers in the third again deadlocked the game. Junior pitcher Olivia Kennedy held the Retrievers scoreless for the next four frames to send the game to extras, but BU failed to respond as six Bearcats were left stranded through the top of the eighth. Instead, UMBC handed Kennedy the loss on an RBI single through the gap that gave the hosts the 3-2 win.

“We need to clean up the defense behind our pitchers to take the pressure off of them,” Bump wrote. “But I do think all of our pitchers could do a better job missing barrels once we are ahead in the count.”

With the series on the line Sunday, Allen sent out a two-run blast — her third in two days — and freshman infielder Rachel Carey homered off of the next pitch to open the game up 3-0 for BU. The Retrievers responded in the bottom of the first with a three-run bomb to tie, but an RBI single from senior outfielder Sarah Rende before being driven in herself in the second made it 5-3 for BU. After two scoreless frames, UMBC’s power surge continued in the fifth with a grand slam and a two-run bomb to go up 9-5, but a five-run rally in the sixth led by solo homers from junior outfielder Bella Farina and Rende put BU right back up 10-9. In the end, after a silent top of the seventh from BU, a pair of Bearcat errors allowed the Retrievers to walk off the game on the base paths and clinch the series 11-10.

“All in all this was a tough weekend to go home without a series win, but we know we are a tough team to beat when all three aspects are working well,” Bump wrote. “We will get back to work and keep grinding.”

BU will next pause its AE slate for a doubleheader on Tuesday, April 1 versus Le Moyne. The first pitch of game one is set for 3 p.m. at Le Moyne Softball Complex in Syracuse, New York.