BALTIMORE -- The UMBC Softball team exploded for four runs in the first inning and never looked back en route to a 9-3 victory over UAlbany to win its fourth-straight America East title in rainy conditions on Saturday at The Diamond.
Karly Keating (Orlando, Fla.) and
Shanel Stott (Cumberland, Md.) each drove in three runs for the Retrievers.
Courtney Coppersmith (York, Pa.) and
Lyndsey Evix (Cumberland, Md.) each had RBI hits as well.
Senior
Madison Wilson (Abingdon, Md.) walked twice and scored a run as she was named the Championship's Most Outstanding Player.
Wilson was joined on the All-Championship Team by Stott,
Macy Granzow (Glenn Dale, Md.) and
Kya Matter (Dalmatia, Pa.)
Coppersmith picked up the win to finish her career 12-0 in America East Tournament play. For her career, she allowed just six earned runs in 80 innings (0.53 ERA) and struck out 116. She also had a 32.1 inning scoreless streak in America East Tournament play that was snapped in the third inning today.
How It Happened:
- Granzow beat out an infield single with one out in the first and promptly scored on an Evix double
- Wilson worked a full count walk, and after a strikeout, Coppersmith ripped an RBI single, that got misplayed by the centerfielder and allowed Wilson to score all the way from first.
- Keating then smacked an RBI single up the middle to score Coppersmith and make it 4-0
- UAlbany got a leadoff double in the second, but Coppersmith struck out the next three to keep it a 4-0 lead
- A single and a sacrifice bunt put a runner at second with two outs in the top of the third for the Great Danes, but Coppersmith got another strikeout to end the threat
- In the bottom half of the inning, Evix reached on an error, Wilson walked on another full count, and both moved into scoring position on a Meghan Dempsey (Collegeville, Pa.) sacrifice bunt
- After a groundout, Keating ripped a two-out, two-RBI single down the line in left to make it 6-0
- Emily Riggs (Lancaster, Pa.) walked on four pitches and Stott then blasted her first homer of the season, a three-run shot to put the Dawgs up 9-0
- The Great Danes got a run back in each of the next two innings to keep the game going.
- The rain started to come down heavy in the top of the seventh, as Coppersmith walked in a run with two outs, but she would get a strikeout to clinch the title
The Retrievers will find out their NCAA opponent tomorrow at 7 p.m. on ESPN 2.
