The University of Maine softball team entered the Bearcats Sports Complex Wednesday as the #4 seed as the America East conference tournament began at Vestal, New York.
Maine would face the host school #5 seed Binghamton in the opening game, and would come up on the short end of a 3-1 score.
Binghamton made it 1-0 in the top of the first when Makayla Alvarez grounded into a double play with no outs at the time, allowing Jessica Rutherford to score from third base. The Bearcats doubled the lead in the fourth when Rutherford hit a sacrifice fly for the RBI to make it 2-0. It was a 3-0 game when Lauren Martinez homered down the left field line for the Bearcats in the top of the sixth. Maine got on the board when Alyssa Derrick launched her sixth homer of the year to right center in the bottom of the sixth, the solo homer made it 3-1. Maine threatened in their last at bat in bottom of seventh with two on base and two outs, but Erika Leonard fouled out to the left fielder to end it.
Annie Kennedy (9-8) took the loss in the circle for Maine, allowing two earned runs, six hits, with two walks, and two strikeouts in seven innings. Rayn Gibson (7-12) earned the win for Binghamton, allowing one earned run, six hits, with five walks, and one strikeout in the seven inning effort. Maine would have to move on to an elimination game in the double elimination format later in the day, while Binghamton (17-23) will face top seed Albany (28-13) Thursday at 11 a.m.
In the elimination game against UMBC, Derrick provided the winning hit with a two run homer in the bottom of the fifth to spark Maine to a 5-3 win to keep their season alive.
After the two teams swapped a run each in the first inning, Leonard gave Maine a 2-1 lead with an RBI double in the bottom of the third. UMBC took the lead again when Julia Keffler hit an RBI single in the top of the fourth, and Sierra Pierce stole home to make it 3-2 Retrievers. Kristen Nilland re-tied the game in the bottom half of the fourth with an RBI groundout. Derricks one out homer was a towering shot over the center field wall, her seventh of the year and second of the day to provide the difference in the game.
Kennedy (10-8) won in the circle for Maine in her second start of the day, allowing no earned runs, two hits, no walks, and three strikeouts in seven innings. Kim Puccio (7-19) took the loss for UMBC, allowing five earned runs, eight hits, no walks, and three strikeouts in six innings. UMBC ends their season with a 12-31 record.
Maine, now 21-24, will be in another elimination game Thursday against Binghamton at 4 pm.
