Beadnell a key for Bowdoin softball team

The fortunes of the Bowdoin College softball team may well rest with a freshman from eastern Maine.

Jessi Beadnell, a rookie from Stearns High School of Millinocket, had a stellar collegiate opener when she pitched an 8-0 shutout over Bates College of Lewiston on March 31, pitching a four-hitter with four strikeouts.

Bowdoin is 2-1 after dividing a doubleheader with the University of Maine-Farmington on Saturday, winning the opener 9-1 and losing the second game 12-3.

Last year, Coach John Cullen’s team seemed destined to repeat the record of the past when the Polar Bears were 2-10 by late April. The team rebounded, however, with eight straight wins to end the season at 10-10, the first time since 1987 Bowdoin had been able to finish as high as .500.

Beadnell has to fill the role of No. 1 pitcher vacated by the graduated Missy Conlon. The other pitchers will be Pam Shanks, 3-4 last year, and Gena Comenzo, who won her only start last year.

Senior co-captain Laura Martin is back at first base. She hit .433 and was tied for the team lead with 15 runs batted in.

Senior Noel Austin of Bingham, a three-time letterwinner, returns to second base and Old Orchard Beach senior letterwinner Cathy Hayes is back at shortstop.

Hayes hit .276 last year and stole a team-high 17 bases, which ranked her among the top 10 in the nation among NCAA Division III players.

Sophomore letterwinner Amy Aselton of Milbridge is in competition for the third base spot with returnee Angela Merryman, the second-leading hitter at .429. Camy Schuler, a sophomore from Buckfield, has earned the starting catcher’s position. She hit .350 as a reserve.

Other Maine players on this year’s team, which hopes to have an even better season, are outfielder Jennifer Davis, a three-year senior letterwinner from Topsham; freshman outfielder Jessica Fowles of Albion; and freshman second baseman Francesca Infantine of Portland.

Bowdoin women’s outdoor track team, coached by Peter Slovenski, is scheduled to open with a three-way meet at Tufts on April 11.

Eileen Hunt, a two-time junior letterwinner from Island Falls, co-captains the team with junior Erin O’Neill.

Other Maine letterwinners returning are senior Hanley Denning, Yarmouth; senior Blue Karnofsky, Bar Harbor; and sophomore Susan Weirich, Rumford Center.

Maine rookies for the Black and White are Staci Bell, Augusta; Airami Bogle, Fairfield; Racheal Cleaves, Wayne; Marie Lee, Springvale; Sally Massey, Augusta; Sarah Soule, Cumberland; and Lori Towle, South Portland.

Women’s lacrosse, under 19th-year head coach Sally LaPointe, had a difficult start when two of its four games of its “southern” swing were snowed out. The team finished that trip 1-1. Bowdoin was scheduled to play at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., on Saturday.