On a cold, blustery day at Mike Kessock Field, the University of Maine softball team dropped both games of their doubleheader against the University of Albany Sunday after games were postponed from Saturday due to inclement weather.
“[The UMaine baseball team] canceled,, the [Portland] Sea Dogs canceled, we just followed suit,” head coach Lynn Coutts said. “You’ve gotta have the best situation for kids that work this hard, and it wasn’t a good-weather game.”
UMaine couldn’t overcome Albany’s fast starts to both games, being outscored 12-3 in the first two innings of both games combined while outscoring Albany 3-1 during innings three through seven. UMaine dropped game one 5-2 and game two 8-4.
“We got behind a lot [early in the season] as well, so we’re used to battling back,” Coutts said. “We got a few runs here, but you can’t start games that way.”
In game one, UMaine junior pitcher Hannah Hill lead the Black Bears on the mound and in the batter’s box as well. After a rough first two innings, Hill shut out the Great Danes the rest of the way while going two for three, scoring two runs and recording an RBI with a home run with the bat. She gave up all five of her runs and five of her nine hits in the first two innings while recording nine strikeouts.
Albany junior pitcher Brittany MacFawn also went the distance, allowing two runs on six hits while also striking out nine and walking none.
The Great Danes got started right away, with Hill walking freshman right fielder Annie Johnson and freshman shortstop Maggie Cocks back to back. Junior first baseman Charlise Castro hit a two out two-RBI single with a blooper into right field to score Johnson and Cocks. Castro stole second base and was drove in by the next batter, freshman center fielder Kelly Costello to give Albany a 3-0 lead.
MacFawn struck out the side to preserve the 3-0 lead in the first inning.
Albany junior third baseman Lauren Alcorn picked the Great Danes rally back up, leading the second inning off with a single into right field. Two batters later, sophomore left fielder Vickey McFarland hit a home run to put the Great Danes up 5-0.
MacFawn had another stellar inning, retiring the side in three batters in the bottom half of the second.
The bottom of the third inning presented the best chance for UMaine to get on the board and claw into the lead while it was still early in the game. With one out, junior left fielder Chelsea Kunin hit a line drive up the middle that rolled all the way to the fence, giving Kunin a triple. With their first score of the game 60 feet away, the Black Bears could not drive in Kunin and the score remained 3-0 after three innings.
UMaine scored their first run in the bottom of the fifth, with Hill leading off with a line drive to left field for a double. One batter later, sophomore catcher EmJ Fogel hit a blooper into left field to put Hill on third base. Sophomore pinch hitter Kaitlin Norton dropped one into left field to drive Hill in to make the score 5-1. Sophomore pinch hitter Nikki Byron hit a sacrifice ground out to advance Fogel and Norton, but freshman shortstop Mikaila Kowalsky flew out to MacFawn to end the inning.
UMaine’s last chance to come back in the bottom of the seventh started with a home run by Hill to cut the Great Dane’s lead to 5-2, but MacFawn got the next three batters out to end the game and secure a 5-2 victory.
“Sometimes our pitchers hope for pitches to work, and she just needs to go out and pitch,” Coutts said of Hill’s pitching performance. “When she just goes out and pitches, she will be fine. That’s for any pitcher. We try to be to perfect and sometimes they let the ball hang, and good teams are going to hit it.”
Castro lead the Great Danes offensively going two for three with one run scored and one RBI. MacDawn improves to 10-5 on the year while Hill drops to 2-9.
UMaine fell victim to another quick offensive start by the Great Danes in game two, as junior pitcher Kylie Sparks only lasted one inning while giving up seven runs on six hits and walking one.
Cocks came up big for the Great Danes, going two for four with three RBI while scoring one run of her own. Fogel lead the Black Bears hitting going two for four with two RBI and one run.
McFarland lead the game off with a double into right-center field, followed by a bunt by Johnson to put two on with nobody out in the top of the first inning. After Johnson stole second, Cocks reached base on a throwing error by Wood, which also allowed McFarland and Johnson to score to put Albany up 2-0. After a Solano walk, Castro hit a three-run home run to put the Great Danes up 5-0.
UMaine got on the board in the bottom of the first inning, with Kowalsky’s line drive down the left field line starting it off. Fogel hit into a sacrifice ground out to advance Kowalsky to third base, and junior third baseman Jean Stevens hit in Kowalsky with her double into center field to cut the Albany lead down to 5-1.
McFarland reached base for the second inning in a row after an error by Kowalsky to start another Albany scoring rally. Johnson hit a single to center field, and McFarland and Johnson stole third and second base respectively. Cocks then came up with a huge hit, a two-RBI single that made the score 7-1. It marked the end of the day for Sparks, who was replaced by sophomore pitcher Alexis Bogdanovich.
Bogdanovich retired the rest of the side, and finished the game allowing three hits, one run, one walk and struck out five in six innings of work.
The Black Bears scored two runs of their own in the bottom of the second inning. Bogdanovich got the rally started by reaching second on a fly ball to left field. Sophomore second baseman Kristen kosolsky and Kowalsky drew back to back two-out walks to load up the bases for Fogel, who delivered with a two-RBI single into center field. Stevens walked to load the bases up again, and Albany got out of the jam when senior first baseman Hilary Kane grounded out, leaving three Black Bears on base.
It was a pitcher’s duel until the fifth inning, when junior third baseman Lauren Alcorn hit a home run to put the Great Danes up 8-3. In the bottom half of the inning, Fogel reached base on a single and stole second to put herself in scoring position. Kane drove her in with one RBI double up the middle to make the score 8-4.
MacFawn replaced junior starting pitcher Emily Ostrom after Fogel scored, and neither UMaine nor Albany recorded another hit for the rest of the game.
“They hit everything we threw. But in the first game they had two stolen bases that should have been outs; we would have been out of that inning with maybe one run, that’s a 2-1 game. Critical mistakes, those don’t happen usually, but they happened today,” Coutts said. “I was very happy with Alexis’ pitching. She shut them down. Her curveball and screwball were working great today. She hit her spots. If you hit your spots, usually you’re OK.”
With the two losses, UMaine moves to 5-28 on the year with a 2-3 America East conference record. Albany improves to 18-7, remains undefeated in America East play with a 5-0 record and extends its win streak to 13 games with the sweep.
The Black Bears and Great Danes play a third game Monday, April 8 at 1 p.m. before moving on to face 9-21 Boston College on Thursday, April 11 at 4 p.m. UMaine resumes America East play next weekend with a three-game series at 15-11 Binghamton University on April 13 and 14.