The University of Maine at Presque Isle softball team is ranked seventh in the USCAA poll, which was released for the first time this spring on April 10, 2017.
The Owls own a 9-7 record after taking four games from Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Mass. April 8 and 9. The scores were 4-0, 18-1, 12-4 and 16-0. Three of the four games ended after five innings due to the mercy rule.
In the first game of the set, Jackie Peers tripled in a run and scored on an error to put the Owls up 2-0 in the top of the fourth inning. Single runs came across in both the fifth and seventh innings as Sara Packard tossed a four-hit shutout and struck out nine along the way.
Sara Packard was the winning pitcher in all four games of her UMPI softball team’s set against Pine Manor April 8 and 9. (Contributed/UMPI Athletics)
An eight-run rally in the second inning keyed the lopsided victory in game two on the first day. Emma Gogan had a two-run single, Ariel Williams a two-run double and Alexis Levesque and Nicole Marucci contributed RBI single during the outburst. Packard went the first four innings on the mound and was credited with the win, while Peers pitched a scoreless fifth.
UMPI exploded for five second-inning runs in Sunday’s opener and won easily. Brianna Losee ripped an RBI double and Gogan and Peers chipped in with RBIs later in the frame. Gogan, Delanie Strout, Levesque and Marucci all had three hits for the winners. Packard and Peers again shared the pitching duties.
Packard tossed another shutout, a complete-game two-hitter, in the game 2 rout. Peers went 3 for 3 and drove in two runs to lead the offense.
UMPI plays at Lyndon State College in Lyndonville, Vt. Saturday, April 15 at noon and 2 p.m. and then are scheduled to square off against UM-Farmington in Kents Hill Monday, April 17 in another doubleheader beginning at 10 a.m.
The UMPI baseball team now holds a record of 2-22 after losing both ends of a doubleheader to John Jay College in Yephank, N.Y. Monday by scores of 8-3 and 12-1.
The Owls were beaten by Staten Island April 8, 11-0 and 13-3. Martin Egan broke up the no-hitter in the opener with a two-out single in the seventh inning. Will Stinson had a two-run single and Matt Curry an RBI single in the second game. Tyler McLaughlin and Egan suffered the pitching losses for UMPI.
The scores against Baruch on Sunday were 7-2 in the first game and 10-0 in the second. Matt Cauchon and Curry picked up RBIs. Curry and Jesus Garcia ended up with losses on the mound.
The Owls take on Rivier College in Nashua, N.H. Friday, April 14 and Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Mass. Saturday, April 15.
