Softball Drops Two to UMBC

Baltimore, MD- The Brown University softball team (2-2) was defeated twice by host University of Maryland-Baltimore County at the UMBC Retriever Classic this afternoon. The Bears fell 4-2 in game one, and followed it up with a 6-5 loss to the Retrievers during the championship game. Sophomore Kate Strobel led the offense with three hits, including a homerun, three RBI and two runs scored in seven at bats, and rookie Stephanie Thompson had three hits and two RBI in seven at bats.

Game 1: UMBC 4, Brown 2

Senior Katie Rothamel (Brentwood, TN) led off the game with a double down the leftfield line and was brought home by a single up the middle by freshman Stephanie Thompson to give the Bears a 1-0 edge after the first inning.

However, UMBC was able to take the lead after scoring two runs off Brown pitcher Lauren Kattchee in the bottom of the inning.

Brown tied the game up 2-2 in the top of the fourth inning. Strobel started the inning off with a single through the left side, and stole second base. Thompson grounded out to second base to advance Strobel to third, and was brought home after a single through the left side by Kattchee. The Retrievers answered right back by scoring two more runs in the bottom of the fourth.

After the fourth inning, sophomore Trish Melvin came in for relief at the mound for Brown’s Kattchee. Kattchee pitched four innings and gave up four runs and allowed eight hits and received the loss. Melvin pitched the final two innings and allowed just three hits in the eight batters she faced and struck out one.

Thompson led the Bears on offense going two-of-three at the plate with one RBI, and Kattchee went one-of-two with one RBI.

Game Two: UMBC 6, Brown 5

With two outs in the first inning, Brown senior Amanda Asay took a walk, and Strobel singled to center field to bring her home to earn a 1-0 lead against the Retrievers.

But UMBC came back with a three-run first inning and scored another run in the second to increase its lead to 4-1 after the second inning. Liz DiMascio pitched two innings for the Bears and allowed five hits, four runs and struck out two batters before being replaced by Trish Melvin.

The Bears cut their deficit to just one after registering two runs in the third. With two outs, Asay took ball four and earned her second walk of the game, and Strobel homered to left field to bring the score to 4-3.

UMBC was able to score two more runs in the fifth to increase its lead to 6-3, and the Bears fell just short in the seventh after scoring two runs to come within one before UMBC brought in relief at the mound. Rothamel tallied the first run after an error on the catcher, and Thompson hit an RBI single to left field to bring in the second run. But that was as close as Bruno would come, as the Bears fell short, 6-5.