There’s no getting around it — despite currently sitting in fourth place in the America East, the Binghamton University softball team is in dire straits.
The league’s top four squads will earn berths to the conference tournament, but the Bearcats’ status as the final postseason team is essentially nominal, as they trail the University of Maine, which sits in fifth place, by two games in the loss column. Sixth-place University of Hartford is currently tied with Binghamton in losses (15-25, 6-9 America East).
The Bearcats do not control their postseason destiny, but matters get even more unfavorable. First-place Stony Brook University is scheduled to visit the East Gym Field this weekend for a three-game set, the first two of which will come in a doubleheader on Saturday. The series is also the final regular season conference series for the Bearcats. The Black Bears (12-26-1, 3-7-1 AE), on the other hand, will host last-place University of Maryland, Baltimore County and visit Hartford (8-36, 3-9 AE) in their final two series.
Sheer numbers mean the Bearcats desperately need multiple wins, possibly a sweep, this weekend as Maine’s magic number is five with six games remaining.
“I think we’re just going to worry about ourselves this weekend,” Binghamton head coach Michelle Burrell said. “The best thing we can do is win the first game and build from there. If we can win this weekend, then we’re in a better situation.”
If not for a handful of missed opportunities and a tendency to fall apart late in games, though, the Bearcats wouldn’t be mired in this late-season predicament. Three of the team’s losses have occurred in the bottom of the seventh inning. In two of those games — against Boston University and Maine — Binghamton even held a lead entering the final frame.
“We’ve put it behind us,” Burrell said. “We can only move forward from here, and we’ve got a chance to take some games from Stony Brook. So we’re hoping to do that this weekend.”
Binghamton’s pitching and defense will be key against Stony Brook (31-12-1, 10-1-1 AE). Though the Seawolves rank fifth in the conference with 19 home runs, they lead the America East in batting average and are second in runs scored. The error-prone Bearcats, who have committed nearly twice as many as the Seawolves, cannot afford to make mistakes because Stony Brook is so effective at manufacturing runs.
“We’re going to have to play good defense and make sure that any runs they score, we’re making them earn them and not giving up extra opportunities,” Burrell said. “[We have to make] sure we’re doing everything we can … so our pitchers don’t have to work any harder.”
Binghamton’s lineup boasts last year’s America East Co-Player of the Year in junior Jessica Phillips, but as a whole, the Binghamton offense has struggled. The team has managed just 11 runs over the last eight games. Stony Brook has allowed just 17 runs in 12 America East games, and freshman pitcher Allison Crukov leads the conference with 20 wins, a 1.09 ERA and 169 strikeouts.
“We’re going to have to be aggressive and make sure we’re swinging at good first and second-pitch strikes so we’re not getting ourselves behind in the count,” Burrell said of Binghamton’s offensive game plan for the weekend. “I think it comes down to staying confident and knowing that just because we haven’t scored a lot of runs in the past couple of series that we’re still capable of doing it.”
One factor bodes extremely well for the Bearcats: They have not lost a home game this season.
“I think we’re definitely looking forward to playing at home,” Burrell said. “For some reason we have played better at home, so hopefully that’ll help us. It is our senior weekend, so we’re expecting to have a quite a few fans here.”
First pitch of Saturday’s doubleheader is scheduled for noon.