BALTIMORE—Junior catcher Angela Yannone (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) drove in three runs and finished a triple short of the cycle, as the UMBC softball team (18-12) defeated cross-town rival Towson (14-17) by a score of 6-3 Thursday afternoon at UMBC Softball Stadium. It was the Retrievers' fourth straight victory.
The Tigers scored twice on three hits in the top of the first and held the 2-0 lead until the bottom of the second, when UMBC senior designated player Lauren O'Malley (Pasadena, Md./Archbishop Spalding) singled down the right field line with two outs to drive in Yannone, who had doubled two batters earlier, slicing the Retrievers' deficit in half.
Sophomore right fielder Ashley Scroggin (Stafford, Va./NorthStafford) led off the fourth inning with her team-best ninth home run of the season following an 11-pitch at-bat, which tied the game at 2-2. Then two batters later, Yannone blasted her second homer of the year to nearly the same spot in left-center to put the Retrievers on top, 3-2.
In the top of the fifth, sophomore reliever Heather Brown (Pasadena, Md./Northeast) escaped a bases-loaded one-out jam by inducing a strikeout and a groundout, and UMBC added to its lead in the bottom of the inning, scoring three runs on four hits. With the bases loaded and two down, Yannone laced a single through the left side to drive in two, and freshman shortstop Jessica Warner (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) plated one more with an RBI single of her own that made it 6-2.
Towson used back-to-back two-out hits to get one back in the sixth, but they stranded two and went down in order in the seventh to end the game.
UMBC starter Stephanie Weigman (11-7) earned the win after allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and striking out three without walking a batter in four innings. Brown gave up one run on four hits and struck out two in the final three frames to pick up her second save of the season. Towson starter Katie Lingmai (8-9) surrendered three runs on four hits and two walks in 3.1 innings of work and took the loss.
Yannone went 3-for-3 with a double, a homer, three RBIs and two runs scored to pace the Retrievers offense, which collected 11 hits in the game, while Warner and O'Malley each had two hits and an RBI. Senior left fielder Julia Culotta (Street, Md./North Harford/Tennessee) walked twice, but she saw her streak of reaching base safely in 12 straight plate appearances come to an end when she struck out in her final at-bat. The streak spanned four games, dating to Saturday's series opener against Stony Brook.
The Retrievers return to action this weekend, when they visit defending America East champion BostonUniversity for a three-game series.
