LOCATION: The Diamond at UMBC - Baltimore, Md. 
 
SHORT STORY: After falling in a close, low-scoring winner's bracket championship, the Great Danes won the final elimination game to advance to the America East Championship.
 
GAME ONE
 
RECORDS: UAlbany 23-19, 11-7 America East | UMBC 25-15, 15-4 America East
 
SCORE: UMBC 1, UAlbany 0
 
KEY STATS

• Senior Morgan Petty led with two hits in three at-bats.
• Senior Maddi Petrella followed with the third Great Dane hit.
• Redshirt-sophomore Kate Powers started the game and pitched four innings with four strikeouts.
• Senior Wendi Hammond pitched the final two innings with three strikeouts.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Through the first three innings, the game remained scoreless without a hit from either team.
• In the bottom of the first, UMBC put two runners on base with a walk and an error but the Great Dane defense held the runners at first and third to hold the score at 0.
• Morgan Petty notched the first hit of the game with a double down the left-field line in the top of the fourth.
• Answering with their first hit, the Retrievers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth after the clean-up hitter knocked a home run over left-center field.
• Both teams put a runner on base in the fifth but the score remained with UMBC in the lead, 1-0.
• Hitting a hopper to the third baseman, Petty added a two-out single in the top of the third.
• Maddi Petrella followed with a base hit but attempting to run two bases, the inning ended with Petty out at third.
• In what proved to be their last inning at-bat, the Retrievers left a base runner on second at the close of the sixth.
• The Great Danes were unable to get on base in the top of the seventh and UMBC took the win, 1-0.

 
GAME TWO
 
RECORDS: UAlbany 24-19, 11-7 America East | Maine 16-39, 4-15 America East
 
SCORE: UAlbany 5, Maine 3
 
KEY STATS

• Maddi Petrella led from the batter's box going 3-3 with two RBI. 
• Senior Caitlyn Mitros led with two runs from two hits. 
• Four Great Danes added one hit each - sophomore Sierra Fretz, junior Jordan Nastos, graduate student Chloe Lewis, and freshman Kasey Conn. 
• Earning the win, Kate Powers pitched five innings with four strikeouts. 
• Coming in for the final two innings, Wendi Hammond pitched for her second save on the season.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Maine started the scoring right away with one run in the top of the first. 
• Leading off for the Great Danes, Caitlyn Mitros got on base with a fielding error before Jordan Nastos hit the first UAlbany single. 
• Maddi Petrella drove in a run with a single to right field.
• Chloe Lewis followed it up with a single down the left-field line to give the Great Danes a 2-1 lead after one inning. 
• The Black Bears tied the score at two in the second inning.
• Mitros scored her second run off a single from Petrella before Morgan Petty took advantage of a throwing error to score UAlbany's fourth run on the same play. 
• After a scoreless fourth inning, Maine closed the scoring gap with a home run in the top of the fifth. 
• Sierra Fretz opened the bottom of the sixth with a single through the left side. 
• Pinch-running for Fretz, sophomore Caitlyn Frederick scored on a wild pitch after stealing second and third. 
• Maine put a runner on base twice in the top of the seventh but the Great Danes held off any additional Black Bear run to secure the 5-3 win.

 
NEXT: UAlbany will compete in the championship game against first-seed UMBC on Saturday (May 13) at noon.
 
For more information on the University at Albany softball team, follow the squad's official social media accounts shown below.
Twitter - @ualbanysb
Instagram - @ualbanysb