ALBANY — Leah McIntosh fired a two-hit shutout and struck out 12 batters in leading UAlbany to a 4-0 victory over Maryland Baltimore County in the opening round of the America East Conference softball championship Thursday afternoon at Albany Field.

The Great Danes, who are the double-elimination tournament’s top seed, advanced to today’s winner’s bracket contest at 11 a.m. against either Boston University or Stony Brook.

McIntosh, a sophomore right-hander, was in complete control in upping her record to 16-5. She gave up Amanda Fefel’s lead-off single in the second and her one-out double down the left-field line in the seventh. McIntosh, who recorded her eighth shutout of the season, has allowed two hits or less in six starting assignments this season.

UAlbany (33-15) broke up a scoreless deadlock in the fourth with a two-out uprising. Meagan Butsch walked in between a pair of fly outs, before right fielder Jessica Bergin lined a single into the left-field gap. UMBC center fielder Lynn Pronobis was unable to come up the ball, allowing it to roll all the way to fence, and Butsch came around to score. Leanne Tillman followed with an RBI single up the middle to provide her team with a two-run advantage.

“The first game [of a tourn­ament] is the most important,” said

UAlbany coach Chris Cannata, whose program has produced 30 or more wins in seven consecutive seasons. “You don’t want to play all day tomorrow. It was good to get the nerves out.”

McIntosh, who struck out the side in the first and second innings and threw 84 pitches in recording her 20th complete-game effort of the season, finished off UMBC

(24-28) with two strikeouts to end the game following Fefel’s double.

“Everything was working, and this is the time that it needs to work,” said McIntosh, a first-team all-conference selection who has registered 12 or more strikeouts against six opponents this spring. “I just went out and hoped for the best. When you get four runs and your hitters are hitting, it makes you feel comfortable.”

UMBC 000 000 0 — 0 2 1

UAlbany 000 220 x — 4 5 0

Gray and Shirk; McIntosh and Smith.