The barrages of runs had come sporadically — one game here, another there — for the Binghamton softball team in 2014.
That changed this weekend, when the Bearcats (18-18, 8-3 America East) swept visiting Hartford by a lump sum of 27-11. It was the first time this season that Binghamton plated eight or more runs in three consecutive games.
“In a lot of the games earlier on this season we were getting [offensive production] from three to four people. It always felt like one group was on, one group was off,” head coach Michelle Burrell said. “I felt like we had everybody contributing this weekend offensively. That made a big difference, and we were able to put up a lot of runs.”
The Bearcats, who entered the weekend hitting one home run every 32 at-bats, belted seven home runs in 74 at-bats against Hartford (7-25, 1-11 AE). Senior second baseman Jessica Bump, sophomore first baseman Lisa Cadogan and sophomore catcher Taylor Chaffee each homered twice, while sophomore right fielder Sydney Harbaugh jolted one roundtripper.
Harbaugh, whose .350 batting average ranks fourth in the America East, catalyzed Binghamton’s offense out of the leadoff spot. She reached base seven out of nine times and never failed to score, earning America East Player of the Week honors on Monday.
“I think she first of all, by getting on base, gave us a lot of momentum and I thought the players hitting behind her really set off of her momentum and just kept going with it,” Burrell said. “We were finally able to kind of able to string hits together. That’s something we were missing earlier in the year — we weren’t necessarily feeding off each other.”
After Harbaugh walked in her first plate appearance of the weekend, Bump set the tone with a two-run homer. The Bearcats, who hit .378 in the series, needed just five innings to dispose of Hartford in Saturday’s series opener, 8-0.
The second game began in similar fashion. Harbaugh walked and Bump homered a batter later, this time plating three runs.
This time, though, Hartford responded with a six-run second inning to take a 6-3 lead.
By the third inning, the Bearcats had erased the deficit. By the fifth, they had regained the lead for good en route to a 9-8 victory.
“We still felt very confident that our offense was going to be able to put the runs that we needed on the board,” Burrell said. “I think our girls are confident now that they can come back. We definitely want to keep that going.”
There was no need for a comeback in Sunday’s series finale, as Binghamton pounced early with seven runs in the first two innings. Freshman pitcher Annika Wiesinger held down the fort with two earned runs over four innings before senior Demi Laney took over for three nearly flawless frames and the Bearcats prevailed, 10-3.
Chaffee’s two home runs and four RBIs in the win pushed her season totals to nine and 32, respectively. Both marks rank second in the America East.
With a pitching staff that has seen its formidability diminish since last year, Binghamton could use more series-long offensive outbursts in the weeks preceding the America East tournament. The Bearcats, who would be the No. 3 seed if the regular season ended today, are hitting .294, a nearly identical clip to last year’s .293. They just hadn’t strung hits together with such consistency over a three-game span until this weekend.
“We were kind of waiting for this to happen and I’m really glad that they all put it together and I was really happy with how much of a team effort it was this weekend,” Burrell said.
The Bearcats are scheduled for a non-conference doubleheader with Colgate on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. at the Bearcats Sports Complex.