Sports

Softball opens conference play

Black Bears travel to Baltimore to take on the America East foe Retrievers

Posted on March 23, 2011, at 10:18 p.m.

Like the baseball team, the University of Maine softball team has struggled out of the gate on their extended road trip.

Starting 8-19, the Black Bears have had considerable time off since their last games on March 13.

Spending the weekend in North Carolina, the Black Bears were beat three straight days by East Carolina University, Charleston Southern University and North Carolina State respectively before defeating Fairfield University and losing the weekend finale to James Madison University.

After going down early to the Stags, the Black Bears scored four times in the fifth inning to take the lead and twice in the sixth for the victory.

Junior shortstop Jennifer Eberhardt led the Black Bears with three hits, while senior first baseman Kirstin Allen finished with three runs batted in. Both infielders also went yard in the victory, the third of the season for Eberhardt and Allen’s first.

For the season, senior third baseman Terren Hall leads the team in almost every offensive category, batting .351 with six homeruns, 22 RBIs, five stolen bases and an on-base plus slugging percentage of 1.068.

On the mound, junior Ashley Kelley has appeared in a team-high 19 games, going 3-9 with 10 starts and boasting a 4.24 earned run average. Sophomore Beth Spoehr and freshman Kylie Sparks have also had considerable time on the rubber, appearing in 13 and 16 games respectively.

The Black Bears open up conference play against America East foe, University of Maryland Baltimore County. The Retrievers are 14-9 so far this season and have been playing well as of late, winning their last nine contests.

The Retrievers have two players batting .400, with senior second baseman Lauren Brummell sitting right at .400, while senior third baseman Julia Culotta is batting .412. Both infielders have cracked four homeruns thus far.

The Retrievers have also pitched well, with senior Stephanie Weigman going 8-5 with a 3.50 ERA, while junior Katie Ferguson and sophomore Heather Brown each boast a sub-3.00 ERA.

The three-game series starts with a double header Saturday, with start times scheduled for 1 and 3 p.m. The finale is Sunday at 11 a.m.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011, 10:18 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.