UMBC

Amanda Fefel's 33rd career home run tied the game in the seventh.

BALTIMORE—Trailing the entire game, the UMBC softball team (14-6) scored once in the sixth and twice in the seventh for a 3-2 victory over Rhode Island (5-14) Tuesday afternoon at UMBC Softball Stadium. It was the third time in as many wins that the Retrievers have rallied in the sixth inning or later.

Down, 2-0, with two outs in the sixth, junior center fielder Julia Culotta (Street, Md./North Harford/Tennessee) singled to center and advanced to third on a wild pitch and a passed ball, then scored on junior pinch hitter Lauren O'Malley’s (Pasadena, Md./Archbishop Spalding) double down the right field line to slice the Retrievers’ deficit in half.

In her second inning of relief, freshman Heather Brown (Pasadena, Md./Northeast) shut down the Rams in the top of the seventh, inducing three straight groundouts.

Senior Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) smashed her third home run of the season over the left field fence to lead off the bottom of the seventh, tying the score at 2-2. Brown then reached on an error and senior right fielder Emily Thompson (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Falls) singled. Both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt by junior first baseman Malorie Weller (Round Hill, Va./Loudoun Valley/Kennesaw State), which brought up the hero from Sunday’s come-from-behind win over Mount St. Mary’s, sophomore third baseman Angela Yannone (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake), who lifted the second pitch of her at-bat to shallow center field for the game-winning hit.

Fefel retired the first seven batters she faced before third baseman Kelly Coker reached on an error in the third inning and came around to score on a two-out single by center fielder Brittany Julich to give Rhode Island a 1-0 lead.

The Rams made it 2-0 in the fifth on a single by right fielder Melissa Wilson with the bases loaded, but Fefel induced back-to-back groundouts to escape the jam.

Brown (5-2) earned the victory after tossing two scoreless innings in relief. Fefel started the game but did not factor into the decision despite allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits in five innings. Rhode Island reliever Jayshree Narendran suffered the loss after giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits in 1.1 innings of work. URI starter Amanda Sbei did not allow a run on four hits over the first five innings.

Junior second baseman Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover) and sophomore designated player Kaela Mason (Bel Air, Md./Harford Tech) paced the Retrievers at the plate with two hits apiece. Julich had two hits for Rhode Island.

The Retrievers return to action on Wednesday, when they travel to Philadelphia to face Temple, their second straight Atlantic-10 opponent, in a doubleheader beginning at 2:30 p.m.