American East Conference

Coppersmith Leads UMBC to First-Ever #AESB Crown

5/11/2019 2:00:00 PM

WEST HARTFORD, Conn.  – For the first time in program history, UMBC is the America East softball champion. The Retrievers capped a perfect tournament with a 4-0 win over Stony Brook in the championship game Saturday at Hartford’s Softball Field to claim their first title.
 
Courtney Coppersmith recorded her third shutout of the championship in the circle capping her standout week by earning Most Outstanding Player honors. She went 4-0 while allowing just two runs in 28 innings pitched, a 0.50 ERA, on only eight hits with 33 strikeouts.
 
UMBC, which won all of its four tournament games and outscored its foes 17-2, receives America East’s automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Softball Championship and will learn its tournament draw during the NCAA Selection Show, which will be televised on ESPN2 on Sunday at 9 p.m.
 
The Retrievers (30-22) got on the board in its first at bat after Julia Keffler led off with an infield single, advanced to third on an error and came home on a ground out by Sierra Pierce. They added two more in the second, taking advantage of a key Stony Brook (32-19) error to take a 3-0 lead after two.
 
Julia Keffler, an All-Championship selection, delivered UMBC’s fourth run with an RBI triple in the fourth. She went 3-for-4 on the day with an RBI and two runs scored.
 
Coppersmith was masterful once again in the circle, allowing just three hits in the complete-game shutout while walking only one and fanning 10, which raised her season total to 342, just nine shy of the America East single-season record.
 
Coppersmith and Keffler are joined on the All-Championship team by teammates Sierra Pierce and Kaly Winslow, Stony Brook’s Katelyn Corr, Melissa Rahrich and Irene Rivera , UMass Lowell’s Marianne Sparacia and Kaycee Talcik, Binghamton’s Morgan Bienkowski and Hannah Lyons, UAlbany’s Amelia Ely and Hartford’s Julianna Kocenski.
 
UMBC’s Kennedy Lamb earned the conference's softball Elite 18 award for having the highest GPA among participating student-athletes in the championship game. The junior carries a perfect 4.00 GPA majoring in English.

Visit Championship Central for links to box scores and recaps from the entire championship.

About America East: The America East provides its member schools and their athletic programs a platform upon which student-athletes can achieve both collegiate and life success through the promotion and nurturing of athletic excellence, academic achievement and leadership, on and off the field.