Sports |

Softball salvages weekend with win

By Riley Donovan

Posted on Monday, April 25th, 2005, 12:00 am

andrew gordon

COLLISION COURSE - Lindsay Tibbetts prepares to tag-out a runner in Saturday´s game against Albany. Tibbetts was injured on the play.

andrew gordon

SWINGING THROUGH- amy kuhl takes a cut at a pitch during UMaine´s doubleheader against Albany.

The University of Maine softball team dropped two games on Saturday to first place Albany. The Black Bears, who were outscored 10-1 in Saturday’s doubleheader, sought revenge in Sunday’s game, and revenge is what they got.

The Black Bears beat the Great Danes 9-5, on their best hitting effort of the season. UMaine had 12 hits, four of which were home runs.

Sarah Bennis pitched four scoreless innings to begin Saturday’s early game, but UMaine’s bats were silent. Amanda Morin gave up just one hit for Albany in the complete game shutout. Morin improved her record to 10-2 with the win.

Bennis let up a bit in the fifth and surrendered the games first run. With a 1-0 lead going into the top of the sixth, Albany looked to put away the Black Bears. The Great Danes added two more runs and then scored four more in the top of the seventh. Their seven runs came off of eight hits Bennis, who fell to 6-6 on the season.

The second game ended a little better for UMaine, who got off to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Molly McKinney brought home Brittany Cheney to score with a single to left field.

UMaine held a 1-0 lead through the first three innings. Albany tied the game at one in the top of the fourth and then broke the tie in the top of the fifth with two more hits and two more runs off of Jenna Merchant.

Casey Halloran picked up the win for the Great Danes, her conference leading 13th of the season. She gave up five hits to the Black Bears, but allowed just one run.

Coming off of a two-loss day for a muddy Kessock field, the Black Bears hoped the sun would shine on them on Sunday. It did. The Black Bears hit four home runs off of Halloran and Marcucci. The Black Bears hit the ball 13 times on their way to scoring nine runs compared to five for Albany.

Candace Jaegge and Merchant shared the circle for the Black Bears and gave up 10 hits. It was Maine’s hitting that saved the Black Bears.

Lauren Dulkis, Molly McKinney, Brittany Chene, and Erin Provost all had hits that landed out of the 220-foot softball park.

Maine led 3-0 after the first two innings, but Albany tied the game at three in the top of the sixth. The Black Bears added three more runs in both the fifth and sixth to take the 9-5 win.

“We just came into today relaxed,” said Cheney of Sunday’s win. “We knew we had to take one this weekend. We just came out, and we played really well.”

Merchant, Dulkis, Jess Brady, McKinney and Kristie Hawkins all had two hits each for the Black Bears. Eight different Black Bears had hits.

“One through nine, everybody was hitting,” said Dulkis. “We were moving runners today. We were doing everything.”

The Black Bears win was a big one, and they knew it was one that they needed.

“It was a real big win,” said Dulkis. “It was good to get that win especially after everything that went on yesterday. We held our composure today, and we played well.”

Dulkis also says she thinks Albany is the team to beat. The Great Danes finished first in the conference last season, and with their 11-2 conference record they seem destined to win the conference regular season title again this season.

“This is a really good hitting team,” Merchant said of Albany, “So it’s hard to keep them off balance.”

Merchant, who pitched in two of the games over the weekend, evened her record at 3-3 with the win on Sunday. Black Bears head coach Michelle Puls believes her pitching has been the most consistent part of her team all season, but on Sunday it was her team’s hitting that won the game.

“Our hitters pulled us through today,” said Merchant, “which was nice.”

The Black Bears picked up just one win on the weekend, but it was a big one. Maine will take on Boston University on Wednesday and Thursday. The teams will play a three game series beginning on Wednesday to make up for the series that was postponed between the two teams earlier in the season.

“We ended on a high note, a good way to carry over for Wednesday Thursday in Boston,” said Dulkis.

The Black Bears don’t get a break. They will go right from Boston to Maryland, where they will take on UMBC in a two day, three game series. UMaine and UMBC will play a doubleheader on Friday and a single game on Saturday.

UMaine’s record stands at 7-4 in conference play. They are in second place and have a 13-20 overall record