The softball team won one and lost three at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County Spring Classic this weekend, beating Saint Francis University 4-3 and falling to UMBC 9-8, Morgan State University 5-4 and Niagara University 8-4.
The Bears left Maryland with a 5-6-1 record, but the squad came close to having a winning weekend as its games against St. Francis and UMBC went into extra innings.
The game against St. Francis featured some of the back-and-forth run scoring that characterized the two extra-inning games. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Kelsey Williams '14 scored on a sacrifice fly from Jen Kries '14 to tie up the game 3-3.
Going into the ninth, the Bears caught St. Francis catcher Chelsy Cosentino in a rundown between third base and home to prevent the go-ahead run from scoring. Brown escaped from the top of the ninth after Danielle Palms '14 caught a pop fly to shortstop.
With one out in the bottom of the inning, Maegan Sloggett '14 scored the winning run for the Bears, rounding home on an RBI single from Kristi Munoz '14.
The game against the tournament's host school was particularly lengthy, going 10 innings. Brown was down 3-0 going into the seventh, but scored five runs in that frame. Sandra Mastrangelo '12 had two RBIs and then scored on an error by UMBC's catcher. Pinch hitter Erica Kahn '14 ended the inning with a groundout to first, stranding Kries on base.
But in the bottom of the seventh, UMBC responded, scoring another two runs to tie the score at five. Brown and UMBC each scored in the eighth, pushing the game into extra innings.
In the top of the 10th, Kristin Watterlond '14 scored the team's only run, but the Bears surrendered two runs to UMBC in the bottom of the inning for the walkoff win.
"It was a good fight," pitcher Lauren Kattchee '12 said. "We're looking to build off of (the team's performance in the tournament) and win in the future."
The Bears will play a doubleheader against in-city rival Providence College Thursday before kicking off the Ivy League schedule at Princeton and Cornell.
