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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Hartford softball team split a pair of games with conference rival Binghamton on Sunday afternoon, first scoring the 5-3 win to open the day before falling, 6-1, in the series rubber match.

Prior to the start of game one, Hartford's four seniors, who played in their final home conference series of their careers, were honored in a ceremony. Jordan Haines, Melani Maxwell, Erica Phelps and Kate Wacyk have each helped the Hawks amass their most wins since the 2009 campaign with an overall record of 16-26.

Led by a five-run, two RBI afternoon from Jessica Bump, the Bearcats managed to take the series after scoring a 3-0 win in the opener on Saturday to improve to 10-2 in America East action and 21-13 overall. With Sunday's split, the Hawks are 6-7 in league games.

Hartford came from behind in the opening match, erasing a 2-0 deficit to force the game three rubber match in the morning game. An two-run, inside the park home run off the bat of Jenice Aloyo in the bottom of the fifth followed by a game-saving, bases loaded diving catch in left field by Maggie Betz led the Hawks to the win.

Inside of the circle, Zuzana Kudernastchova went the distance for the Hawks, striking out six and allowing three runs on six hits to improve her mark to 10-11 on the season. She went on to throw 1.1 innings in relief in game the second game of the afternoon, compiling 13 strikeouts in 15.1 innings on the weekend.

Bump, Binghamton' second baseman, scored all three of her squad's game one runs, knocking two solo home runs and scoring on an RBI single by Lisa Cadogan. The first batter of the day, she got the morning started with a bang, taking the third Kudernatschova pitch she saw and lofting it 220 feet down the field straight over the centerfield fence.

That lead improved to 2-0 for the Bearcats in the top of the third as Bump again crossed home plate after getting on base with a one-out walk. The visiting squad's advantage wouldn't last long, though, as the Hawks sent all nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth and gained their first lead of the game by producing three runs on two hits, three walks and an error.

Binghamton pitcher Rhoda Marsteller, who retired the first nine Hawk batters she faced and recorded four strikeouts during that opening stretch, saw her no-hitter disrupted by junior Amber Andrews who became the  Hawk base runner of the contest by looping a single into left field.

Representing the game tying run, Jenice Aloyo continued Hartford's rally by knocking an infield hit back to Marsteller, moving Andrews, who took second on a passed ball, to third. Hartford's second baseman would then cut her team's deficit in half, scoring on a line drive out by Wacyk that saw Binghamton's third baseman bobble a catch on an attempted pickoff. 

Following a walk earned by sophomore Jackie Kelly, the Hawks quickly knotted up the score at two runs apiece with Haines in the box and runners on the corners. The designated player, Haines laid down a perfect bunt down the first base line, and Aloyo beat out the throw at the plate, tying up the score at 2-2 on the suicide squeeze.

After the second walk of the inning was issued to rookie Sawyer Fried to load up the bases, Maxwell would be retired for the second out of the frame. Hartford then crossed one more run across home plate to take its first advantage of the inning as Maggie Betz earned her sixth RBI of the season, bringing in Kelly by earning four balls for a walk.

That lead would be extended to 5-2 for the Hawks in the following inning, with Aloyo provided her team with the three-run cushion. Following a lead-off walk by Andrews, Aloyo roped a hit into right field. In an attempt to make a diving catch on the play, Binghamton's Sydney Harba came up short, allowing the Hawks' speedy right fielder to wheel around all four bases on the play.

Kate Price, who took over for Marsteller on the mound after Hartford's fourth and fifth runs were plated on the homer, retired the final six Hawks she faced for the Bearcats, however Binghamton was unable to muster up the runs needed to tie up the game in its final at-bats.

In the top of part of the sixth, the Bearcats loaded up the bases, using a double, a walk and a hit batter. With two outs, Caitlyn Friis lined one into left field, but Betz made the spectacular diving catch to preserve the Hawks' three-run lead. Bump scored one final run for her squad on a one-out home run to left field, but the score remained at 5-3 as Kudernatschova struck out both Harba and Tiffany McIntosh to close out the game.

In the rubber match, Lisa Cadogan hit a one-run RBI double to start the contest, forcing Hartford to again play from behind. Unlike the first game, though, the Hawks never recovered from that deficit as Binghamton saw its lead grow to 6-0 after plating single runs in the third and fourth followed by three more in the fifth.

Hartford managed to grab one of those runs back in the bottom of the sixth, with Wacyk leading off the frame with a triple hit into the right field corner and then scoring her team's lone run of the game on an infield ground out from Haines.

Meade (4-10) suffered the loss in the circle, conceding the first three runs of the game on three hits. For the Bearcats, Demi Laney picked up her 10th win of the year, striking out six in the process. Price, who tossed a pair of innings in the opening game, also worked two innings in the nightcap for Binghamton.

The Hawks will play their final home games of the regular season on Tuesday when they play host to the Sacred Heart Pioneers for a doubleheader starting at 2:30 p.m.