The UMPI Owls’ softball team has eclipsed the 20-win mark this season. The team is now 21-11 with four games remaining and is now ranked fourth in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association coaches poll.
The Owls won four of their six matchups played April 15-17, 2016. The stretch began with a sweep of a doubleheader over Fisher College in Boston April 15. The scores were 14-5 and 3-2. Hannah Williams and Katie Patenaude collected three hits each in the opener, while Sara Packard struck out six batters and walked only one in the tight second game, with Dalynn Jacobs and Williams notched two hits each to lead the offense.
The following afternoon, UMPI scored 5-4 and 8-0 triumphs over Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, Vt. Nicole Marucci’s two-run double in the fourth inning provided the margin of victory in the first game, while in the nightcap, Williams hit a leadoff homer and Jacobs had a two-run single as the Owls blanked the Hornets.
On the final leg of the road trip, the Owls dropped a pair of low-scoring games at UM-Farmington April 17, 2-1 and 2-0. Packard was the losing pitcher in both games and allowed three earned runs over 12-2/3 innings of work. Jordi Legassie and Marucci had two hits each in the first game, while Packard was the only repeat hitter for the Owls with two hits in game two.
UMPI is scheduled to close out the season at home with doubleheaders against Fisher College April 30 and May 1. The games will be played at the Presque Isle High School softball field.
The UMPI Owls’ baseball team owns a 9-24 record following its four-game set over the weekend against Alfred State College in Alfred, N.Y.
UMPI was able to prevail in one of those contests — a 5-4 victory in Saturday’s second game.
The host Pioneers got on the board early in the nightcap as they took advantage of a base hit and three walks to score a first-inning run. Owl starter Andrew Bartlett, a senior from Damariscotta, worked out of a bases loaded, one-out jam to limit the damage.
Alfred State added to its lead in the third to make it 2-0
The Owls answered back in the top of the fourth by loading the bases with one out. Ryan Sanderson, a freshman from Cow Bay, Nova Scotia, scored the first UMPI run on a wild pitch. Tommy Collins, a senior from Pembroke, then singled to right field to bring home another, while Brady Rowe, a senior from Halifax, Nova Scotia, drew a walk to bring home the third run of the inning and in the process knocke the Pioneer starting pitcher from the game.
The lead was short lived as the Pioneers tied the game in the bottom of the inning, but UMPI regained the advantage in the sixth. Saul Nunez, a sophomore from Mapleton, reached base on an error and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After a walk to Collins, Matt Cauchon grounded out but Nunez came across on a throwing error. A failed suicide squeeze bunt ended the inning with the Owls up, 4-3.
The Pioneers tied things up with a run in the bottom of the sixth and in their half of the seventh, Jacob Powell, a freshman from Frankfort, doubled to drive in Sanderson from second base for the go-ahead run. Bartlett held Alfred State scoreless in the bottom of the inning to end the game.
Bartlett struck out three and walk three, while giving up seven hits and four earned runs. Sanderson collected multiple hits once again, this time going 2 for 4 with two runs scored. Powell also went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a double.
The win snapped a six game losing streak for the Owls, simultaneously ending a six-game win streak for the Pioneers.
UMPI dropped its other three games, losing game one Saturday, 4-1, despite two hits each by Sanderson and Collins and a solid pitching performance by Matt Curry, a sophomore from Caribou. The Owls fell twice Sunday by scores of 5-0 and 6-2. Cauchon had the Owls’ only hit in the first game and added two more in the game two loss.
The UMPI baseball team was beaten in both ends of a twinbill played April 15 in Bennington, Vt. The Owls fell to Southern Vermont, 15-1 in the first game and 8-6 in the second. In the back end of the doubleheader, UMPI trailed 5-0 and 8-3 but made a comeback that fell short. Bartlett hit a three-run home run and an RBI double to power the Owls’ attack.
The Owls also lost to Div. I University of Maine at Orono last Tuesday, 11-0.
UMPI plays at UM-Farmington Thursday in a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. The team’s only home games of the season will take place Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. at the Presque Isle High School baseball field, with Central Maine Community College the opponent.
