UMBC

Lauren Nicholson led UMBC to their first win of the year over George Mason.

The UMBC softball team (1-3) split two games on Saturday at the Elon Invitational, falling in game one of the day to Akron by a final of 10-6 prior to getting their first win of the season against George Mason, 5-4, 8 innings.  Lauren Nicholson pitched a eight-inning complete game to get the win in game two.

Nicholson struck out six, walked five and gave up eight hits as the Retrievers went into the seventh inning trailing 4-1.  UMBC rallied as an RBI double by Kali Shirk closed the gap to 4-2 and two more runs scored on an error that after Stevie Shore laced one between third and shortstop as the game went tied at 4-4. 

In the tie breaker format a runner starts extra innings at second base as Nicholson was able to work the Retrievers out of the top of the eighth unscathed.  In the bottom of the eighth Jessica Keenan pitch ran at second base and a game-winning RBI single by Jessica Griffith gave UMBC the 5-4 win. 

Amanda McGhee went 2-for-3 in the game with two runs and Shirk went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI.

In game one UMBC jumped out to a commanding 6-1 lead as McGhee hit a three-run double to clear the base paths and a two-run single by Dana Shepard put the Retrievers ahead early. 

The fourth things fell apart for UMBC as a nine-run inning by Akron turned the momentum in the game and gave Akron a 10-6 lead which held up for the game.

McGhee went 1-for-3 in the game and Shephard was 2-for-3 with two RBI.