April 2, 2011
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
Stony Brook, N.Y. - The Stony Brook softball team dropped both games of Saturday's doubleheader against UMBC, falling by scores of 9-5 and 6-5. Juniors Bernadette Tenuto (Audubon, N.J.) and Suzanne Karath (Fishkill, N.Y.) led the Seawolves with three hits on the day.
The Retrievers (16-12, 2-3 America East) pounced on the Seawolves (9-15, 0-5 America East) early in both games, plating seven first-inning runs-- four in game one and three in game two-- to take charge of the weekend series.
With UMBC ahead 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth in game one, Stony Brook began to chip away when sophomore Shannon O'Shea (Lake Worth, Fla.) scored on a wild pitch and sophomore Samantha Rossi (Marlton, N.J.) brought home Karath on an RBI single. The Retrievers answered right back, however, with two runs of their own in the sixth to push back ahead 8-3. Stony Brook promptly returned the favor with RBI hits from O'Shea and Karath in the bottom of the inning, but could pull no closer than 8-5. UMBC tacked on a run in the seventh courtesy of a solo home run to round out the scoring.
In game two, Stony Brook was able to equalize a 3-0 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the second. Freshman Elise Fortier (Coventry, R.I.) tucked a single into right field to score Tenuto, before sophomore Gina Bianculli (Oakdale, N.Y.) knocked in sophomore Taylor Chain (Gloucester, N.J.) with an RBI single to make it 3-2. Rossi then bunted home Fortier to even the score and breathe new life into the home team.
UMBC quickly snatched the momentum back with three more runs in the third to go on top 6-3. But once again, Stony Brook would battle back, scoring twice in the fifth to close within one. Junior Lauren Maloney (Las Vegas, Nev.) doubled in Karath, and later stole home after a bit of tricky baserunning from Tenuto at first base distracted the UMBC defense.
The Seawolves drew a pair of two-out walks in the seventh in a last-ditch effort to tie the game, but the Retrievers got out of the jam and held on for the win.
Stony Brook will try to salvage game three of the series on Sunday at University Field starting at 12 p.m.
