Softball wins second straight America East Series

The University of Hartford softball team took on Binghamton in a hard fought series this weekend Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21.  The Hawks took two out of three games over the Bearcats to secure the win of their second America East series this season.

Saturday was senior day and a double header for Hartford to get the America East series underway.  A scoreless first inning didn’t last long as Haley Cassidy hit her fourth home run of the season, giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead. A sac fly in the third inning by Paige Fedak, brought home sophomore Lily Sencer, and advanced sophomore Nicolette Barranger to second. An error by the Bearcats allowed Barranger to come around for a score, increasing the Hawks’ lead to three.

Binghamton brought it within one run in the top of the fourth, but Hartford fought them off, scoring three runs of their own. By the end of the fourth inning, the Hawks took a 6-2 advantage, which would only be added onto by two runs in the sixth by Binghamton. The series opener ended in a 6-4 final score.

Game two didn’t go as well for the Hartford softball team as they fell to a 7-0 deficit through the first six innings. They didn’t give up though, as they began to chip away at the lead in the bottom of the inning, with two runs.  The late run was started by a RBI triple courtesy of freshman Emma Curry. An infield single by junior Amber Mianti brought Curry around for the second run of the inning, making the score 7-2 going into the bottom of the seventh. Hartford loaded the bases with one out and proceeding to score one from a groundout to third. With runners at first and second, and two outs, the Hawks were unable to capitalize and finished the game with a final score of 7-3.

Hartford bested Binghamton in game three of the weekend for a key series win. The Bearcats took an early 1-0 lead which would hold until Hartford got into a rhythm, scoring five runs in the third inning. The Hawks would hold onto the lead outscoring the Bearcats 4-1 over the rest of the game, winning its second conference series win of the season with a final score of 9-2. Freshman Julianna Kocenski finished her 15th complete game of the season. Additionally, Danielle Rocheleau is now only two hits away from 100 career hits, and was named America East Player of the week. Hartford looks to wrap up the regular season in the coming weeks, with their next contest against Fairfield, Sunday, April 28.