UMBC

Emily Thompson was 6-for-9 with two extra-base hits and four runs scored against Hartford.

WEST HARTFORD, Conn.—Senior Amanda Fefel (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) broke UMBC’s all-time record with her 41st career home run, and ninth-year head coach Joe French picked up his 300th victory at the helm of the Retrievers, as the UMBC softball team (23-22, 4-10 AE) split a doubleheader at America East rival Hartford (16-19, 3-11 AE) Saturday afternoon. The Hawks took the first game, 5-3, but the Retrievers overcame a 5-1 seventh-inning deficit to win the nightcap, 7-5, in eight innings.

Game 1: Hartford 5, UMBC 3

Fefel gave the Retrievers a 1-0 lead in the first inning with her record-breaking home run, which was her 11th of the season, but the Hawks tied it up in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by designated player Nicole Springer.

Junior first baseman Malorie Weller’s (Round Hill, Va./Loudoun Valley/Kennesaw State) two-run double in the third put UMBC on top, 3-1, but Hartford scored four times in the fifth to take a 5-3 lead.

Fefel (4-5) suffered the loss after allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits and striking out eight in 5.1 innings of work. Siera Sheehan (7-9) allowed three runs on seven hits and struck out two in the complete game victory.

Game 2: UMBC 7, Hartford 5 (8 innings)

The Retrievers trailed, 5-1, heading into the seventh inning, but got four hits in the frame and capitalized on a pair of Hartford errors to knot the score and send the game into extra innings.

UMBC loaded the bases with one out on three straight singles by junior second baseman Lauren Brummell (Hanover, Va./Hanover), Fefel and senior right fielder Emily Thompson (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Falls), and two runs scored when junior designated player Lauren O'Malley (Pasadena, Md./Archbishop Spalding) reached on an error. Two batters later, two more runs crossed the plate when junior center fielder Julia Culotta (Street, Md./North Harford/Tennessee) also reached on an error, which tied the game.

Freshman reliever Heather Brown (Pasadena, Md./Northeast) induced three straight groundouts in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings.

With two out and none on in the eight, Fefel walked and Thompson doubled to put runners on second and third for O’Malley, who singled up the middle to drive both in with the go-ahead runs. In the bottom of the inning, two straight Hawks reached base to lead off the inning, but Brown escaped the jam with a pop-up and two groundouts, and the Retrievers held on for their fourth extra-inning victory this season.

Springer’s RBI double in the first inning gave the Hawks an early 1-0 lead, and third baseman Melani Maxwell made it 2-0 with a one-out double in the second. Hartford added to its advantage with a two-run double by second baseman Amanda Dilworth in the fifth.

Thompson blasted her eighth home run of the season with one out in the sixth to make it 4-1, but Hartford shortstop Rachel Clonick countered with a round-tripper of her own in the bottom of the inning.

The victory marked the seventh time UMBC has won a game when tied or trailing after six innings.

Brown (8-6) earned the victory after pitching 2.2 scoreless innings in relief and allowing just two hits. Junior Stephanie Weigman (Elkridge, Md./Archbishop Spalding) gave up five runs on eight hits and struck out seven in 5.1 innings of work. Springer (2-6) suffered the loss after surrendering seven runs (three earned) on 11 hits in 7.2 innings.

Thompson went 4-for-5 and scored three times to pace the Retrievers at the plate. She joined with Brummell and Fefel to produce an 8-for-13 effort from the top three hitters in the lineup. Thompson was 6-for-9 with two extra-base hits and four runs scored on the day.

The win was French’s 300th in nine seasons as head coach at UMBC.

The teams meet in the rubber match Sunday at 12 p.m.