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After three and a half innings Sunday, the University of Maine softball team simply wanted to avoid getting mercy-ruled by the University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers.
Facing a 6-0 deficit, the Black Bears made it a new game in the bottom of the fourth inning and eventually came away with an 8-7 nine-inning walk-off win to take two-of-three America East Conference games on the home weekend at Kessock Field.
The Retrievers (22-21, 3-9 America East) looked like anything but a bottom of the conference foe. They took an early lead in all three games, and forced UMaine (20-22, 9-3 AE) to walk-off with both wins. A leadoff home run by UMaine senior second baseman and pitcher Alexis Souhlaris gave the Black Bears a 3-2 win in the weekend opener. UMBC won Saturday’s second game 4-1.
“It’s nice to go up and put a team away early, but you have to know how to come back in situations,” Souhlaris said. “We know we can hit, so we try to pretty stay pretty laid back, stay pretty calm, and take care of things at the plate when we’re up there and behind.”
UMaine entered the weekend tied on the top rung of the conference ladder with defending conference champions Boston University. The Black Bears will host the Terriers for three games next weekend.
“It was good competition for us, and it definitely set us in a good position for next weekend,” UMaine junior third baseman Terren Hall said.
Souhlaris set the table in the ninth inning Sunday with a leadoff walk, and crossed with the winning run from second on Hall’s line drive up the middle, after Whitney Spangler was hit by a pitch.
“I wasn’t looking to be the hero again or anything,” Souhlaris said. “I was thinking ‘Just get on base and you’ll score.’”
UMaine senior pitcher Cayleigh Montano (1-2) worked seven and one-third innings in relief of starter Ashley Kelley to pick up her first win of the season. Montano, who has been nursing an elbow injury, more than doubled her season strikeout total with 11 in the game.
“I felt great in the circle today,” Montano said. “Steph (George) called a great game behind the plate. She was putting them in positions where I could get that out pitch.”
Montano was charged with UMBC’s final three runs after Kelley let up four through an inning and two-thirds. Montano walked just one of the 31 batters she faced.
The Retrievers scored their last run in the fifth inning to go up 7-6 before the Black Bears strung together three base hits in the bottom of the seventh and pushed the tying run across on a Kali Burnham fielder’s choice.
Hall sparked the fourth inning rally with a three-run blast, her 10th home run of the season. She went 3-for-5 at the plate, with four runs batted in.
“It was a flat pitch, so to me it looked like a fastball that she missed or she was just trying to get me out,” Hall said. “It definitely set the momentum, and we just went from there.”
Burnham’s RBI-double continued the charge, bringing in Kristen Calvetti from first. Jordan McLain drove in two more with a hooking double down the left field line and Cassie Hodgson’s RBI-bloop single to right scored McLain with the tying run.
“After the fourth inning, there was no way we were losing that game,” Hall said.
UMBC No.2 hitter Amanda Fefel hit a wind-assisted two-run home run to left to start the game. Leadoff hitter Lauren Brummell drove in two with a line drive single past the reach of shortstop Calvetti in the second inning, and the Retrievers added two more in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI-double by Fefel and an RBI-single by Julia Culotta.
Fefel (4-4) took the loss in the pitcher’s circle, allowing two runs through four and two-thirds innings. UMBC starter Stephanie Weigman was lifted after UMaine’s six-run rally, but was effective early, striking out seven in a row after the first inning.
In Saturday’s first game, Souhlaris made her only hit of the game count. Souhlaris welcomed closer Weigman with her fifth home run of the season over the right-center field wall.
The Black Bears rallied from a 2-0 deficit with runs in the third and fifth innings. Calvetti drove in the Black Bears’ first two runs with a single and a double. She was the only Black Bear with a multi-hit game, of UMaine’s five total hits.
After UMBC built the early lead, scoring in the first and third innings, Kelley (10-3) bared down to earn the complete game win. Kelley yielded seven hits, struck out five and walked two.
In the first inning, UMBC left fielder Kaela Mason’s triple into the right field corner scored Fefel from first.
Brummel led off the third inning with a base hit and moved over to third on a ground out and single before scoring on Mason’s sharp grounder to shortstop.
UMaine designated player Brynne Davis notched the Black Bears’ first hit of the game in the bottom of the third inning and advanced into scoring position on an error before Calvetti brought her around with a line drive into center field.
The Black Bears tied it up in the fifth when Calvetti’s RBI-double pushed across Spangler.
Fefel was charged with one of UMaine’s first two runs in six innings of work.
In Saturday’s second game, the Black Bears could not recover after a three-run first-inning home run by Mason. Mason’s shot off Souhlaris was never in doubt as it sailed over the left field wall.
The 3-0 shutout held until the fifth inning, when UMaine got one back on an RBI-double by Hall, but the Retrievers tacked on one more in the seventh and the Black Bears could do no further damage in their final at bat.
Weigman (11-11) went the distance for the win. She allowed five hits and struck out seven, while walking three. Six of the strikeouts came in the first three innings.
Souhlaris (5-4) took the loss, despite a complete game effort. UMBC tallied 10 hits, with half coming in the first inning.
Fefel and Emily Thompson each went 3-for-4 at the plate and accounted for the three runs Mason did not score.
Bangor Daily News