Lewiston, Maine - The Trinity College softball team came back from down two in the top of the seventh but ultimately fell, 5-4, in extra innings in the series finale with the Bates College Bobcats on Sunday afternoon in Lewiston. Today's game was the series finale between the two New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) East foes after the originally scheduled game on April 20th was postponed due to rain.

Trinity concludes its divisional schedule with a 7-5 record and will be either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the East, depending on the outcome of Bates' other game today versus Bowdoin College, which owns a 7-4 divisional record entering the day. The Bantams fall to 17-13 overall after today's loss.

The Bantams came back from down two runs twice, including in the seventh inning, to force extra innings. Neither team managed to score in the eighth inning before Bates walked off in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI-single off the bat of Janell Sato (Honolulu, Hawaii). Trinity was led offensively by sophomore LF Samantha Witmer (Drexel Hill, Pa.) who had three of the team's six hits as well as a run scored and a walk. Classmate Hannah Zukowski (Burlington, Conn.) drove in a pair of runs for the Bantams, both of which came on the same play in the top of the seventh to tie things.

Sato got things started in the home half of the first with a solo home run to left-centerfield to give Bates a 1-0 lead. Trinity answered in the following frame when first-year 2B Maura Keary (Fairfield, Conn.) laced a two-out double that scored senior tri-captain C Nicole Towner (Erie, Colo.) to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Trinity evened the score at 2-2 in the fourth, taking advantage of a Bobcat fielding error with two outs that allowed rookie RF Alex Chambers (East Lyme, Conn.) to cross the plate. The Bobcats scored in the fifth on a solo shot to left by Aleah Pagan (Orinda, Calif.) and again in the sixth on a wild pitch to take a 4-2 lead after six. 

Witmer and sophomore 3B Cassidy Schiff (Darien, Conn.) got things going with back-to-back hits before senior tri-captain SS Courtney Erickson (Everett, Mass.) was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Zukowski followed with a fielder's choice that preceded a Bates throwing error, allowing both Witmer and Schiff to score to tie the game. Trinity threatened for more but Bobcat starter Kirsten Pelletier (Sidney, Maine) struck out the next two batters and induced a fly out to end the threat and keep the score tied, eventually leading to Sato's walk-off.

Trinity returns to action on Tuesday for a twinbill at home versus Western Connecticut State ahead of next weekend's NESCAC Tournament, set to be hosted by Tufts University.