Co-Regular Season Champion UAlbany Heads to Boston for America East Softball Championship - UAlbany Sports 2011

Cambridge, Mass. - After a three-game sweep of Stony Brook over the weekend, UAlbany earned a share of the America East Conference regular season title, and the second seed in the upcoming conference championship tournament, hosted by top-seeded Boston U. on May 12-14.

The Great Danes, earning their fourth regular-season title since 2004, have won 20 of their last 26 games since starting the season 5-15. UAlbany won three straight league titles from 2005-2007 and became the first America East program to advance to an NCAA Regional Final in 2007. The Great Danes will face third-seeded Binghamton in the first round of the conference tournament on Thursday, May 12 at 3:30 p.m. Binghamton (22-21, AE 10-7) is making its first-ever tournament appearance. The Bearcats' 10 conference wins is the second-highest total in program history.

Boston U. (32-16, AE 14-4) earned the tournament's top seed after taking two of three games on the road at Binghamton over the weekend. The Terriers held the tiebreaker over UAlbany after a three-game sweep of the Great Danes last weekend, and will look to become the first host school to win the tournament since 2004. Boston U. will take on fourth-seeded UMBC (25-23, AE 8-10), which claimed the final spot in the tournament after missing the field last season. The Retrievers completed their season last week, but earned the final spot after Hartford took two of three games from Maine over the weekend.

Boston U. and UMBC will play the first game on Thursday at 1 p.m., followed by the UAlbany/Binghamton matchup. The two winners will face each other in the double-elimination tournament at 11 a.m. on Friday, followed by the first elimination game at 1:30 p.m. and the second at 4 p.m. The championship game will take place Saturday at 12 p.m., with another slated for 2:30 p.m. if necessary.

2011 America East Softball Championship
BU Softball Field (Boston, Mass.)

Thursday, May 12

#1 Boston U. vs. #4 UMBC, 1 p.m.
#2 UAlbany vs. #3 Binghamton, 3:30 p.m.

Friday, May 13

Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 11 a.m.
Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 1:30 p.m. (elimination game)
Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 4 p.m. (elimination game)

Saturday, May 14

Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5, 12 p.m. (championship game)
Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6, 2:30 p.m. (if necessary)


Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information