Owls drop two softball games
AKRON, Ohio — The University of Maine at Presque Isle softball team was eliminated from the USCAA national championship tournament by Penn State Beaver Monday, losing by a score of 6-2.
The Owls and the Lady Lions were locked in a pitcher’s duel early on as both teams were unable to get a run across in the first three innings. UMPI’s Sara Packard, a sophomore from St. Albans, held strong, giving up just one hit in the first three innings, while her opposite, Sara Foose, matched her effort.
Packard tried to change the Owls’ fortune in the fourth offensively by leading off with a single, but Foose frustrated the UMPI bats and work out of the inning, leaving the runner stranded. In the bottom half of the inning, Vanessa Jackson of Penn State Beaver led off by drawing a walk. After the Lady Lions were able to move that runner to third, Foose came up in a clutch situation and drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out base hit.
After the Owls were unable to answer in the bottom of the fifth, Penn State Beaver would do more two-out damage in the sixth. After a strikeout and a pop out, Brittany Garza singled and stole second. Senior Rachael Charlier drove in Garza with a single of her own. After a Jackson walk, Brenna Cepull came through with the big blow, smacking a double that brought both runners around to score. The Lady Lions continued to pile on in the inning as Jenna Petrucci singled and Foose deliver another single that drove in two more runs.
Down 6-0 the Owls answered with a run in the sixth. Dalynn Jacobs, a freshman from Riverside, R.I., doubled to lead off the inning, and later scored on a Packard sacrifice fly. After shutting out the Lady Lions in the bottom of the sixth, the UMPI offense had one last chance to keep its championship hopes alive. Dinah Bilodeau, a freshman from Knox, singled and scored when Allie Lopez, a sophomore from Kingfield, reached on an error. However, the Owls were unable to close the gap.
The Owls, who fell to 25-15, wrapped up their season yesterday when they competed in the ninth-place game of the tournament.
UMPI lost to the College of St. Joseph in Vermont, 2-0, in the opening round of the tourney Monday. The Fighting Saints jumped out to a lead in the top of the first, when leadoff hitter Jacqueline Rossi reached and stole second before coming across on a two-out RBI single by Sierra Jaeger. Packard worked out of trouble, stranding two in the opening frame.
Packard was forced to pitch out of jams throughout the day as St. Joseph would collect five hits in the first four innings, while UMPI would only collect two as they were trying to figure out Maggie Miller, who kept the Owls’ offensive attack off balance.
St. Joseph threatened again in the fifth after a base hit and an error put runners on first and second with no outs, but Packard and the Owls’ defense were up to the task once again and kept the deficit at one.
The offensive pressure for the Fighting Saints would finally pay off in the sixth. Krysta Konderwich singled to lead off the inning and found herself at third before Jenna Crowley sent a base hit to center to add an insurance run, putting the Owls down 2-0.
It looked as though CSJ would add to that lead in the seventh when a baserunner reached third with one out. Jaeger ripped a line drive, but third baseman Jordi Legassie, a freshman from Presque Isle, snagged it as it headed down the baseline and stepped on the bag to double off the runner and end the threat.
The Owls offense was never able to gain any momentum. Nicole Marucci, a sophomore from Naples, recorded a single in the second and Bilodeau added another in the third for the only Owl baserunners to reach in the game.
