Softball

UMBC, Stony Brook Victorious on Day #1 of 2021 #AESB Championship

BALTIMORE – UMBC and Stony Brook are onto the winner’s bracket of the 2021 America East Softball Championship. The Retrievers and the Seawolves each won their opening games on Thursday at The Diamond at UMBC to advance in the tournament.

Top-seeded UMBC received timely hitting and elite pitching from #AESB Pitcher of the Year Courtney Coppersmith to beat fourth-seeded UMass Lowell, 3-0, in the tournament opener. In the second game of the day, third-seeded Stony Brook scored eight times in the first inning en route to a 10-5 win over second-seeded UAlbany in game two.

Three games will take place on Friday with UMBC meeting Stony Brook with a trip to the championship round on the line at 11:00 am. UAlbany and UMass Lowell will play the first elimination game of the tournament at 1:30 p.m. The loser of UMBC-Stony Brook and the winner of UAlbany-UMass Lowell will square off in the final game of the day at 4 p.m. The winner of Friday’s game three will meet the winner of game one in the championship round on Saturday at noon. All games will air on AmericaEast.TV.

2021 #AESB Championship Day 1 Recap
UMBC 3, UMass Lowell 0
  • Courtney Coppersmith hurled a complete game, two-hit shutout and struck out 13 to lead UMBC to the win in its #AESB Championship opener.
  • UMBC, the #AESB regular-season champion, broke a scoreless tie by plating two run in the fourth on an RBI single by Madison Wilson and a run-scoring triple by Shanei Stott.
  • UMass Lowell’s best chance came in the fourth as it loaded the bases, but Coppersmith stopped the threat with a strikeout of Christina Rizzi to end the inning.
  • Sierra Pierce, a second-team All-Conference selection, walked in the fifth to force in UMBC’s third and final run.
  • Stott, Julia Keffler and Maddie Daigneau each had to two hits apiece, combining for six of the Retrievers’ eight base knocks.
  • Jennifer Lee and Olivia Labbe accounted for UMass Lowell’s hits.
 
Stony Brook 10, UAlbany 5
  • Stony Brook exploded for eight runs in the first inning and held off UAlbany to take its first game of the #AESB Championship.
  • First-team All-Conference selection Melissa Rahrich started the scoring with a deep two-run home run to left.
  • Back-to-back doubles by Nicole McCarville and Jordyn Nowakowski made it 3-0, followed by RBI singles by Riley Craig and Julianna Sanzone to put Stony Brook up 5-0.
  • Jourdin Hering singled for the second time in the inning, bringing home two and a Kyra McFarland sacrifice fly capped the scoring and gave the Seawolves an 8-0 lead after just half an inning.
  • UAlbany, which had won six in a row coming into the game, trimmed it to 8-4 by plating two runs in both the second and third innings.
  • Maranda Jimenez, the first-team All-AE DP, had an RBI singe and Tara Driver added a sac fly in the second.
  • In the third, consecutive RBI doubles by Madison Petrella and Kelly Barkevich made it 8-4.
  • But Stony Brook added two more in the fifth and despite Petrella’s solo homer in the home half of the frame, held on the for the win.
  • Rahrich led the Seawolves by going 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Hering rached base three times with two hits and a walk.
  • Petrella and Barkevich each had two hits for the Great Danes.
  • Dawn Bodrug, a first-team All-Conference pitcher, earned the win in the circle for Stony Brook.