West Hartford, CT.-- Freshman pitcher Brianna Baker (Waldorf, Md.) allowed just one earned run over 12 innings of work as the UMBC Softball team swept a double-header at Hartford on Saturday afternoon.

UMBC (11-28, 6-9) outlasted Hartford (9-27, 0-14), 4-2, in nine innings in game one, before cruising to an 11-1 five inning victory in game 2.

Game One

After the Hawks scored on an error to go up 1-0 in the second, Valerie Hammett (Mechanicsville, Md.) put the Retrievers on top with a two out, two RBI single down the right field line. Hartford tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on an error and help send the game to extra innings.

Both teams went in order in the eighth, and the Retrievers finally broke through in the ninth after freshman Imani Dawson (Hanover, Md.) started the inning with an infield single and moved to second when classmate Sierra Pierce (Youngstown, Ohio.) reached on an error. After a sacrifice bunt and a pop-out, both runners then scored on a Tori Alexander (Woodbridge, Va.) single to left.

Baker worked a perfect ninth inning to finish off the complete game, five hit, six strikeout, no walk, victory. Alexander went 3-for-5 with a double, two stolen bases and the two RBI. Senior Carly Lesko was the only other Retriever with multi-hit game as she went 2-for-4 with two singles.

Game 2

UMBC got started right away as Alexander led-off the game with a bunt single, stole second and scored on an Erin Trnka (Goffstown, N.H.) single. Maddie Daigneau (New River, Ariz.) then drove Trnka home on an inside-the-park home run to put the Dawgs up 3-0, and then an error made it 4-0 after one.

Two more runs scored on an error in the third to increase to 6-0 in the third, and then the lead ballooned to 9-0 after Daigneau and Hammett each had RBI groundouts and Trnka scored on a wild pitch.

Trnka made it 10-0 in the fifth with an RBI single to plate classmate Toni Santonastasso (Canonsburg, Pa.) and then a Daigneau sac fly scored Julia Keffler (Huntingtown, Md.) to increase the lead to 11-0. Hartford got a run back in the bottom of the fifth, but could get no closer as the game ended after five innings due to run-rule.

Senior pitcher Kim Puccio (Sparta, N.J.) started and worked two perfect innings before Baker took over for the final three innings to pick up her second victory of the day and third of the season (3-1).

Daigneau finished with four RBI, Trnka had two hits and two RBI and Keffler finished with two hits.

The teams finish the series Sunday morning at 11 am, with a video stream available at AmericaEast.TV