The University of Maine at Presque Isle softball team’s strong season continued and the Owls stand tied for third in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association coaches poll.
The squad, coached by Sara Shaw, carries a 17-9 record into its doubleheader Saturday against Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, Vt. The team has another twinbill Sunday at UM-Farmington before taking on Thomas College for two more games in Waterville Tuesday.
UMPI won four of its six games played last week, sweeping past Southern Maine Community College and Fisher College in road doubleheaders played Saturday and Sunday before being swept at Husson University Monday.
The two victories over SMCC were by scores of 9-4 and 17-6. In the opener, Carly Bell and Katie Patenaude had hits and scored runs in the first inning, while Dalynn Jacobs, Mikayla Churchill and Jordi Legassie all singled as part of a two-run sixth inning rally. RBI singles by Jacobs and Legassie and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Amanda Allen were key plays during the four-run outburst in the seventh that put the game away. Churchill finished with a team-best three hits. Sara Packard went the distance on the mound and struck out four.
The second game saw UMPI scored 14 of its runs in the sixth and seventh innings to break open a close contest. Packard powered the offense with three hits and three RBI, with Legassie also providing three hits and scoring twice. Packard went six innings on the mound and struck out three while surrendering just one earned run.
The Owls earned a pair of hard-fought wins over Fisher College Sunday in games played at South Portland. Hannah Williams drove home the game-winner in the first game with an eighth-inning squeeze play bunt to snap a 4-4 tie. Bell went 3 for 4, while Patenaude and Allen each had two hits. Packard struck out 10 batters for another pitching victory.
In game two, the Owls erased a two-run deficit by scoring twice in the third inning and adding three more in the fifth. Patenaude’s run-scoring single keyed the first rally, while her two-out double plated Bell to ignite the fifth-inning outburst. Fisher got back to within a run, but Packard got out of jams in the sixth and seventh innings to allow UMPI to hold on for another 5-4 triumph. Patenaude had three hits and Jessica Campbell and Williams notched two hits each.
On Monday, UMPI was blanked twice by Husson in Bangor, 4-0 in the first game and 8-0 in the five-inning second game. Patenaude and Allen had a hit each in the opening-game loss, while Williams picked up two hits and Nicole Marucci had the other in the nightcap. Packard was handed the pitching loss in both contests.
The Owl baseball team stands at 8-18 and are ranked 15th in the USCAA coaches poll following a sweep of Saturday’s doubleheader against New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord, N.H. (5-1 and 6-5 in eight innings) and Sunday’s two losses to SMCC (5-4 and 3-2) in South Portland.
UMPI took Saturday’s first game as Matt Curry went 3 for 4 with a double and a run scored and Ryan Sanderson delivered a double and a triple and two RBI. Andrew Bartlett scattered nine hits during his six-plus innings of work, while Jacob Powell came on for the save.
In game two, Sanderson homered and doubled and Adam Begos had three hits, while Curry drove in Tommy Collins on a sacrifice fly in the eighth to snap a 5-5 deadlock. Jesus Garcia struck out seven batters while going all eight innings, retiring the Lynx in order in the eighth to close it out.
The opening game Saturday was a tough loss as SMCC scored three times in the fifth to come back for the win. Matt Cauchon had a two-run double as the Owls collected just four hits the entire game. Curry suffered the pitching loss, allowing nine hits in his six innings of work while striking out six.
All of the runs in the second game were scored in the first inning as SMCC again prevailed. Cauchon and Solomon Fast each had two hits, with Fast providing the lone RBI for the Owls. Rowe and Curry each singled and scored runs. Saul Nunez was the tough-luck losing pitcher, firing five shutout innings after allowing three in the first. He finished with nine strikeouts.
Coach Mike Pankow’s UMPI team returns to action Friday with a doubleheader at Southern Vermont. The Owls then play Div. I University of Maine Tuesday afternoon in Orono.
