UMBC

Sophomore Malorie Weller hit a walk-off home run in the 12th inning Wednesday.

BALTIMORE—In the third longest game in school history, the UMBC softball team outlasted American East foe Binghamton, 8-7 in 12 innings, before winning the second game, 7-3, on Wednesday afternoon at UMBC Softball Stadium. With the sweep, the Retrievers improve to 24-14 and 4-4 in America East play, while the Bearcats fall to 5-22 and 0-8 in conference play.

After opening the scoring in the third, Binghamton broke through for five runs in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead. The Retrievers rallied in the bottom of the fourth with five runs of their own, with junior Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) hitting a two-run double before sophomore Julia Culotta (Street, Md./North Harford/Tennessee) launched a two-run home run to cut the lead to two. UMBC was not done in the inning, with junior Amanda Page (Batavia, N.Y./Batavia/Monroe CC) doubling in sophomore pinch runner Lynn Pronobis (Waldorf, Md./McDonough) to bring the score to 6-5.

The Retrievers were down to their last at-bat, but sophomore Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover) homered to left field to send the game to extra innings. After Fefel allowed a home run to Stephanie DeLuca in the top of the 10th, she bounced back to hit one off Cyrilla Suker to extend the game.

With two outs in the bottom of the 12th, sophomore Malorie Weller (Round Hill, Va./Loudoun Valley/Kennesaw State) belted her fifth home run of the season to give the Retrievers the win. Only a 16-inning game against Boston U. in 2005 and 13-inning game in 2008 have been longer for UMBC. It was tied for the longest game in Binghamton’s history.

UMBC head coach Joe French put it simply after the game, “This team does not quit.”

Fefel (9-3) earned the win after striking out six in 8 and 2/3 innings, while Suker (2-9) took the loss after striking out six in 11 and 2/3 innings of work.

In the second game, sophomore pitcher Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) struck out 12 in a complete game and senior Alison Duff (Brockport, N.Y./Brockport/Monroe CC) hit two home runs and drove in five runs to power the Retrievers to a 7-3 win.

After Duff hit a three-run shot in the fourth inning to give UMBC a 4-0 lead, the Bearcats scored three in the top of the fifth inning. Duff responded with a two-run shot to left field to make it 6-3.

Weigman, who threw her 18th complete game of the season, improved to 14-10 on the year, while Binghamton starter Meghan Tucker (2-6) took the loss, striking out one in 3 and 1/3 innings of work.

The Retrievers return to action this weekend when they travel to Albany for a three-game series that starts with a doubleheader on Saturday at 2 p.m.