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Just a few months after its grand opening, the benefits of Mahaney Dome are already obvious when looking at the University of Maine softball team. On the heels of some valuable indoor practice time, the Black Bears raced out to one of the best starts in program history during a 21-game trip to Florida over Spring Break.
The Black Bears went 11-5 at the Rebel games, hosted in Orlando, and posted a 1-4 mark at the Speedline Invitational in Tampa. Three of the four setbacks in Tampa came by just two runs.
“We’ve had a very good start to our season,” said first-year UMaine coach Stacey Sullivan. “We’ve played 27 games in a short amount of time and I think that was a bit long for what we have in terms of a team. I was very impressed.”
With a 16-11 record, the Black Bears have already matched their win total from the 2005 season.
“Things are falling into place and we’re finding ways to win,” said Sullivan. “There weren’t really any big stars, so to speak, because everyone was stepping up when we needed them.”
UMaine will hope to keep the momentum going this weekend in a Saturday doubleheader against Merrimack College. Mahaney Dome will play host to the series, one of the first of its kind in the new facility.
Playing in Orono should be a welcome change for a Black Bears squad that usually finds itself on the road more often than not at this time of year.
“We were originally supposed to play in a five-game tournament at Stony Brook, but I wasn’t happy with how strenuous that schedule was,” Sullivan said. “I want them to be able to recuperate a little bit, and the dome enables us to do that and see all of our players one more time before conference play next weekend.”
Indoor play presents some small changes to the dynamics of the game, but for the most part the series will provide important game situation experience for both UMaine and Merrimack.
“There are some house rules. Balls hit the ceiling from time to time so there’s some adjustments and automatic outs,” Sullivan said. “But it keeps us getting at bats and seeing pitching, and dimensionally it works out so we get a pretty good look.”
Pitching has been a big strength for the Black Bears so far, as senior Sarah Bennis sports a sterling 11-3 record with a 2.37 earned run average. Bennis, a First Team All-Conference selection last year, has seven shutouts on the year with 91 strikeouts in 91 innings pitched.
“Sarah’s off to an unbelievable start. This year, we’ve really had her embrace the fact that she’s a leader of the team and the pitching staff; she’s really run with that. She’s leading us in the right direction,” Sullivan said.
Freshman Jenna Balent compliments Bennis with a 2.15 earned run average and a 5-8 record in 11 starts. A Colorado native, Balent began last season with a 0-2 record before suffering a year ending injury for which she was awarded a medical redshirt by the NCAA.
“Jenna’s been a workhorse for us. She’s pitched a lot of innings for us and been steady and consistent,” Sullivan said. “She wasn’t happy with the way she finished in Florida, but we keep telling her she’s filling some big shoes and she’s been doing a great job.”
Offensively, the Black Bears have a fairly balanced attack led by seniors Brittany Cheney and Amy Kuhl. Cheney leads the team with a .342 batting average, three home runs and 19 runs batted in. Kuhl hits at a .333 clip with 15 RBIs and a team-high eight doubles.
“Brittany and Amy are our catalysts,” said Sullivan. “They’ve had some big hits for us.”
Kate Joseph, Rebecca Smith and Tara Vilardo also sport averages north of .300, but the Black Bears hit just .246 as a team, one mark they’d like to see improve in the coming weeks.
“The hits have been coming at times when we need, but I’d like to see it pick up a little bit,” said Sullivan. “We need to get all the bats going as we head into conference play.”
Senior Erin Provost has hit extremely well since sliding into the lead-off spot towards the end of the Florida trip, including a 4-for-4 showing in a 5-1 win over Dartmouth. The outfielder has a team-high two triples and comes in just behind Cheney and Kuhl with 10 RBIs.
The Warriors bring a deceiving 2-10 record up I-95. A historically strong Division-II program, Merrimack played a difficult schedule against primarily D-I schools during a brief trip to Florida from March 13-18.
The series will also be a reunion of sorts for Sullivan, who coached the Warriors last season.
“I tried to get them to come up in the fall, but they weren’t able to,” she said. “They’re a very strong D-II team and they also had a hole in their schedule this weekend.”
The first game of the doubleheader is slated to start at 1 p.m., while the second will follow at approximately 3 p.m.
