Box Score Video Highlights
Baltimore, Md-- Sierra Pierce (Youngstown, Ohio) drove in the first three runs and Courtney Coppersmith (York, Pa.) pitched another complete game as the UMBC Softball team advanced to its second consecutive America East Championship with a 4-1 win over Stony Brook on Thursday.
The Retrievers advance out of the winners bracket and will play at noon tomorrow.
UMBC (24-11) got on the board in the first when Julia Keffler (Huntingtown, Md.) singled,stole second, and then scored on a Pierce single up the middle. Stony Brook (26-15) answered in the top of the second after an infield single, a wild pitch and a single that hit first base and bounced into foul territory.
The Retrievers answered right back in the bottom of the second, however. With two outs and two and scoring position, Pierce smacked her two-RBI double to score Maddie Daigneau (New River, Ariz.) and Meghan Dempsey (Collegeville, Pa.) to make it 3-1.
The Seawolves worked a pair of two-out walks in the third, but Coppersmith got a fly out to end a nine-pitch at-bat and the threat. The score remained 3-1 until the fifth when Pierce worked a leadoff walk and moved to third on a Madison Wilson (Abingdon, Md.) double. Shanel Stott (Cumberland, Md.) then drove in Pierce on an RBI groundout to push the lead to 4-1.
Stony Brook got a leadoff single in the sixth, but Dempsey made a spectacular catch in foul ground in right field and Coppersmith struck out the next two to end the inning. Coppersmith worked a perfect seventh to secure the victory.
Keffler, Pierce and Ashley Della Guardia (Phoenixville, Pa.) each had two hits, while Daigneau, Stott and Wilson each had one hit of their own.
Coppersmith improved to 18-2 on the season after going all seven innings and striking out seven.
