GREENVILLE, South Carolina — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore softball team suffered a 3-2 defeat on Sunday morning (February 13) at the hands of the Bellarmine University Knights in walk off fashion. The game was the team's final contest of the Paladin Invitational hosted by Furman University.

The game was a pitcher's duel for most of the day. Junior Saje Kurpiela pitched 6+ innings for the Hawks and Claire Lehmkuhler tossed a complete game for the Knights. The game was 2-0 in favor of Bellarmine as the fifth inning came to a close with BU scoring both of their runs in the second inning.

Eastern Shore tied the game in the top of the sixth. Sophomores Julia Garcia and Ameenah Ballenger hit back to back singles with one out to put the tying runs on base. They each advanced a base on a groundout on the next at-bat and that brought sophomore Kelsie Ekstrom to the plate. Ekstrom hit a two-out double down the left field line to bring Garcia and Ballenger home to tie the score.

The game stood at 2-2 entering the bottom of the seventh inning. Following a leadoff walk, Kurpiela was replaced inside the circle by graduate student Nasya Goodman. She gave up a double and walked a batter to make the bases loaded with zero outs.

Goodman responded by striking out two straight batters to bring the Hawks one out away from sending the game into extra innings. However, Bellarmine's Grace Werner caught Eastern Shore's defense by surprise and stole home to end the game.

Maryland Eastern Shore will be back in action February 25-27 at home as they host the Eastern Shore Classic in Princess Anne. The squad will welcome Lafayette and Saint Peter's for a round robin tournament over the course of three days.