This past weekend the women’s softball team traveled to Binghamton University to take on the Bearcats in a doubleheader.  Though the Raiders started off their weekend with a loss, they were able to battle back and secure their eighth win of the season in the second game.

In the opener, the Binghamton women came out on top. Junior Holly Geranen got the Raiders off to a strong start in the second inning with a leadoff double. First-year Nicole Rounsavill was able to follow that up with a one-out double to give the Raiders an early 1-0 lead. At the bottom of the third inning, the Bearcats responded to tie the game 1-1. Just one inning later Binghamton scored two more runs, allowing them to gain a controlling lead of 3-1. In the following frame the Bearcats added another run and moved the score to 4-1. First-year, Jordan Miller opened the top of the seventh with a leadoff home run, though it wasn’t enough to make a comeback in the opener.

Though the opener did not go in favor of the Raiders, they came back strong in the second game to grind out a win. At the beginning of the game, it appeared as though Binghamton was going to bag another victory, but Miller and and Rounsavill tallied two RBI’s to tie the game at 2-2 in the second inning. Binghamton responded with a two-run home run and advanced to a 4-2 lead. With bases loaded at the top of the fourth, sophomore Baillie Jorth stepped up to the plate to help the Raiders gain some ground. Jorth performed beautifully under pressure and was able to bat in two runs to level the score to 4-4. Rounsavill stepped up once again for the Raiders with an two-run triple to give Colgate a commanding 6-4 lead. Geranen followed it up with an RBI. Senior Tara Grennan and sophomore Lauren La Terra both hit RBI singles to extend Colgate’s lead to 9-4.

The Bearcats were able to move the score to 9-5, but Colgate answered right back when Geranen returned to the plate ready to bat, hitting a solo shot to center and advancing the score to 10-5. Down 10-5, Binghamton rallied with two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh.  The Raiders did not let the Bearcats back into the game with a strong pitching performance from Gillian Murray. The final score read 10-8.

Senior captain Katie Bushee was extremely proud of the way their team was able to battle back from a disappointing opener. The 10 runs they compiled motivated the team, demonstrating their ability to put the tough losses behind them in order to prevail against a highly-ranked opponent.

“It was really nice to see the bats come alive for us to find our rhythm on our bye weekend.  We had a strong spring break, but hit a bit of a wall in the first two weekends of Patriots, so it was nice to break out of that.  Now we are looking forward to getting back to Patriot League opponents,” Bushee said.

At the weekend’s close, the team’s overall record stood at 8-20. The Raiders will return next week to host the Lafayette Leopards in a three-game series from April 15-16.