Softball sweeps Hartford in America East Conference doubleheader

Binghamton (15-12, 6-4 AE) used late inning heroics to defeat Hartford (6-17, 5-8 AE) in an America East Conference doubleheader on Sunday afternoon. The Bearcats won 4-2 in the opener before taking a 3-2, 12-inning thriller in the nightcap.

Trailing 2-1 in the top of the seventh inning of the first game, the Bearcats scored three times to pull out the win. Junior catcher Jessica Chellis (Tunkhannock, Pa.) had the clutch hit with a two-out, two-run double to put Binghamton ahead 3-2. She would later score on a Hartford error to give the Bearcats a two-run cushion. On the mound, sophomore pitcher Michelle Weeks (Bunnell, Fla./ Flagler Palm Coast) improved her record on the season to 9-2, going seven innings, allowing just two runs (both unearned), one hit while striking out 10 batters.

Weeks started the second game and went 5.2 innings before handing things off to senior pitcher Mary Karen Wheat (Brockport, N.Y.). At that point the game was tied 2-2 and it would stay that way until the top of the 12th inning. Junior outfielder Leigh Ann Savidge (Binghamton, N.Y./ Seton Catholic) broke the deadlock with an RBI single that scored freshman pinch runner Nicole Vitello (Olean, N.Y.). Wheat got out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the 12th inning to improve her record to 4-1 on the season.

NOTES: Weeks has now struck out 100 batters in 89.2 inningss. Her ERA is now 1.01

Game 1: Binghamton 4, Hartford 2
Game 2: Hartford 3, Binghamton 2 (12 innings)