BANGOR- What a Friday it was for Colby softball and senior second baseman Emma Burnham (Bonny Eagle). The Mules won a pair of elimination games in the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament at O’Keefe Field with a walk-off homerun by Burnham to eliminate the host Husson Eagles in Game 1, then they scored five runs in the sixth in Game 2 to move onto the regional championship in a 6-3 win over Endicott College. The wins were the first ever NCAA Regional Tournament victories in program history for Colby.
Burnham hit two solo homeruns in the win over Husson. The first one came with one out in the first inning to centerfield, and then the walkoff no doubt long ball to left center on a 0-2 pitch off Ana Lang (Searsport) in the bottom of the seventh to end it. The #12 Eagles were eliminated and ended up with a record of 36-6. Colby trailed Game 2 by a score of 3-1 to Endicott into the bottom of the sixth before rallying back. Kelsey Sullivan (Brunswick) tied it with a two-run single, and Carissa Cassidy had the game winning RBI single by dropping a single into centerfield. Burnham capped off her huge day with another single that scored two runs. Sophia Meade (13-3) won both games in the circle in relief giving up a total of one earned run in 9.2 innings. On offense, Burnham finished her afternoon 6-7 with two homers, one double, five RBI, and two runs scored. The Mules (28-12) will need to beat #21 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (35-9) twice on Saturday to win the regional championship.
