The University of Maine’s fifth-seeded softball team jumped out to a 3-0 lead after three and a half innings over second seed Binghamton in their opener in the five-team, double-elimination America East softball tournament at the Pierre and Catherine Labat Softball Complex on the University of Maine campus in Orono.
But the Bearcats showed why they are the conference’s top-hitting outfit, erupting for nine runs in the bottom of the fourth and going on to post a 12-5 victory over the Black Bears.
UMaine will now face Albany in an elimination game on Thursday at 1:30. Third seed Albany was beaten in Wednesday’s opener, 8-1, by UMass Lowell.
Albany swept a three-game regular season series from UMaine in Orono recently.
Because rain forced Wednesday’s third game between regular season champ Bryant and UMass Lowell back to Thursday at 11, Binghamton won’t play again until Friday at noon against the winner of the Bryant-UMass Lowell game.
Thursday’s 4 p.m. game will pit the winner of the UMaine-Albany game against the loser of the Bryant-UMass Lowell contest.
Binghamton parlayed seven singles, a walk, a hit batter and an error into the nine runs.
America East Player of the Year Rachel Carey and Megan Wolf each had two-run singles in the decisive uprising; Darien McDonough, Emma Lawson and Rebecca Minnichbach had RBI singles and Maddy Dodig had a single and a sacrifice fly.
The Black Bears responded with a two-run single by Keira Inman in the top of the fifth but starting pitcher Olivia Kennedy was replaced by Delaney Glover and the junior reliever retired the next three hitters to end the inning and wound up tossing three innings of one-hit shutout relief with four strikeouts and two walks.
The Bearcats answered with three in the bottom of the fifth with two coming on Carey’s 11th homer of the season.
Binghamton was the home team based on being the higher seed.
Carey was one of five Bearcats with two hits in their 13-hit attack.
She had four RBIs and the only extra-base hit.
McDonough, Lawson, Dodig and Lauren Payne had two singles apiece.
UMaine’s Kaelyn Larkin, who was chosen to the All-America East second team and to the All-Rookie team, paced the Black Bears with three singles.
Maggie Helms had a pair of doubles to drive in UMaine’s first three runs and Neve Adams doubled and singled.
