ORONO – The Maine softball team left Lengyel Field Saturday with confidence and momentum after a tension-filled sweep of Hartford, but lost all of that Sunday when it dropped two to Vermont.

While Maine displayed some remarkable, late-game hitting in its sweep of Hartford, it went up against Vermont and stopped hitting, falling 3-1 and 4-2 Sunday.

The Bears battled back twice Saturday to win both games by a 3-2 margin and put them ahead of the Hawks in the league. The sweep moved Maine into second in America East and gave it a rare rush.

“It’s clicked this season,” said sophomore catcher Sara Jewett. “This year, there’s a better feeling. The team is as stacked as it’s been since they went to the [NCAA tournament] in ’94. We don’t want to take it for granted.”

But Sunday’s sweep put the Bears back on the defensive. Had Maine taken two from fifth-place Vermont, it would have secured one of four berths in the America East tournament. Instead, Maine is now 6-4 in the league.

“It’s alright it happened,” UMaine senior Mary Wells said of Vermont’s sweep. “We play better when we’re down. We like to work for everything. We like to make it difficult.”

Maine made a win near impossible in the first game Sunday when it allowed Vermont three runs on four hits in the seventh after holding it scoreless.

After Maine took a 1-0 lead on Jewett’s first-inning, RBI double, Maine freshman pitcher Carrie Green pitched a no-hitter through four innings before giving up a single to Carrie Beck in the fifth. Beck then came back to haunt Maine in the seventh.

First, Kristen Nestor, who touts a .420 average, started things off in the last inning with a double to deep right and then Anna Curra singled. Beck’s base hit scored Nestor and Rachael Rice’s drove in Curra. As if the three subsequent singles to right field weren’t bad enough, Beck stole home when Maine attempted to pick off Rice at second.

“Their first pitcher had good spin. We typically take a slow start. Then we perk up,” Nestor said. “Once we broke it open, we felt them buckle.”

In the second game, the Bears buckled. They had eight hits, but squandered five in the fourth when they scored just two runs.

Down 2-0 in the inning, Puls led off with a base hit, Jewett doubled and Wells scored both on an 0-2 single. Then, with no outs, Wells was picked off at third and Maine ended the inning leaving two runners on.

The Cats regained the lead in their next at bat when Erin Barney led off with a base hit, Melissa Mattuchan later singled and Nestor smacked a two-run double into center field.

“Teamwise, what happens is we’re either all on or all off,” Wells said. “This was the bad Maine today. We left runners on. We’re a clutch team. Today, we weren’t.”

Saturday, the Bears were, stringing together hits when needed as they fought back in both contests.

In the first game, Maine rallied late after managing just four hits in four innings. Down 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Creegan smacked a single to deep right, Puls followed with an RBI triple and Jewett plated Puls on a one-out double.

The Bears showed the same poise late in the second game.

Maine took the lead in the second on Kathryn Murphy’s RBI double, but Hartford stole the momentum in the third when Vicki Brenner walked Jenn Vuolo, Abbey Toich ripped an RBI triple and Tammy Jaworoski scored her on a single.

Maine then went hittless in the next two innings before Wells tied it 2-2 with a hard, two-out single to plate Jill Cassie, who took first on an error.

In the seventh inning, Jewett roped her second double of the day on an 0-1 pitch to score Puls from first and give Maine the win.

Black Bears 3, Hawks 2

(Saturday’s First Game)

Hartford Maine

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Jaworoski, cf 4 0 2 0 Cassie, lf 4 0 0 0

Kennett, ss 2 1 0 0 Creegan, 2b 3 1 2 0

Hewitt, 1b 3 0 0 0 Puls, ss 3 1 2 1

Henning, 1b 3 0 2 1 Jewett, c 3 0 1 1

Simoneau, 3b 2 1 1 0 Wells, 3b 2 1 1 0

Gertner, dp 3 0 0 0 Gamblin, dp 1 0 0 0

Palmieri, rf 3 0 2 1 Sullivan, rf 2 0 1 1

Vuolo, 2b 3 0 0 0 Murphy, cf 3 0 1 0

Toich, lf 3 0 0 0 McMullin, 1b 3 0 0 0

a-Christensen 0 0 0 0

Totals 26 2 7 2 Totals 24 3 8 3

a-grounded out for Toich in the fifth

Hartford 010 010 0 – 2

Maine 000 120 x – 3

E – Simoneau, Kennett; Wells 2B – Simoneau; Jewett 3B – Puls LOB – Hartford 6; Maine 4 DP – Kennett-Vuolo-Henning; Murphy-Creegan SB – Creegan, Wells S – Kennett, Simoneau; Gamblin, Sullivan

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Hartford

Boisselle (L 6-11) 6 8 3 3 2 0

Maine

Green (W 8-3) 7 7 2 2 1 1

PB – Jewett TIME -1:40 ATTENDANCE – 70

Black Bears 3, Hawks 2

(Saturday’s Second Game)

Hartford (13-20, 5-5) Maine (16-20, 6-2)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Jaworoski, cf 3 0 1 1 Cassie, lf 4 1 0 0

Kennett, ss 3 0 2 0 Creegan, 2b 3 0 0 0

Hewitt, c 3 0 0 0 Puls, ss 3 1 1 0

Henning, 1b 3 0 0 0 Jewett, dp 4 0 2 1

Simoneau, 3b 3 0 0 0 Wells, 3b 3 0 1 1

Gertner, dp 2 0 0 0 Gamblin, c 3 0 1 0

Palmieri, rf 3 0 0 0 a-Fraser 0 1 0 0

Vuolo, 2b 2 1 0 0 Sullivan, rf 3 0 0 0

Toich, lf 3 1 1 1 Murphy, cf 3 0 1 1

McMullin, 1b 2 0 2 0

b-Bishop 0 0 0 0

Totals 25 2 4 2 Totals 28 3 8 3

a-scored for Gamblin in the second

b-ran for McMullin in the fifth

Hartford 002 000 0 – 2

Maine 010 010 1 – 3

E – Toich, Kennett, Hewitt 2B – Gamblin, Murphy, Jewett 3B – Toich LOB – Hartford 4; Maine 9

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Hartford

Dvorak (L 6-7) 6 1/3 8 3 2 3 1

Maine

Brenner (W 4-4) 7 4 2 2 2 2

TIME – 1:40

Catamounts 3, Black Bears 1

(Sunday’s First Game)

Vermont Maine

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Barney, cf 4 0 1 0 Cassie, lf 3 0 0 0

Nocera, 2b 4 0 1 0 Creegan, 2b 3 0 1 0

Mattuchie, 1b 3 0 0 0 Puls, ss 3 1 0 0

Nestor, dp 3 0 1 0 Jewett, c 3 0 1 1

a-Howrigan 0 1 0 0 Wells, 3b 3 0 0 0

Curry, 3b 3 1 1 0 Gamblin, dp 3 0 0 0

Beck, ss 3 1 2 1 Sullivan, rf 3 0 1 0

Rice, rf 3 0 1 1 b-Fraser 0 0 0 0

c-Tieman 0 0 0 0 Murphy, cf 3 0 0 0

Toney, lf 3 0 0 0 McMullin, 1b 2 0 0 0

Turner, 1b 3 0 0 0

Bergin, p 3 0 0 0

Totals 32 3 7 2 Totals 26 1 3 1

a-scored from second running for Nestor in the seventh

b-ran for Sullivan in the seventh

c-ran for Rice in the seventh

Vermont 000 000 3 – 3

Maine 100 000 0 – 1

E – Sullivan, McMullin; Nocera 2B – Nestor; Jewett, Sullivan LOB – Vermont 5; Maine 4 SB – Curry, Beck (2), Tieman, Turner

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Vermont

Bergin (W 5-6) 7 3 1 0 0 1

Maine

Green (L 8-4) 7 7 3 3 0 0

TIME – 1:35 ATTENDANCE – 150

Catamounts 4, Black Bears 2

(Sunday’s Second Game)

Vermont (13-11, 5-5) Maine (16-22, 6-4)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Barney, cf 3 1 2 0 Cassie, lf 4 0 1 0

Nocera, 2b 3 0 0 0 Creegan, 2b 4 0 0 0

Mattuchia, c 4 0 1 0 Puls, ss 3 1 1 0

a-Howrigan 0 1 0 0 Jewett, dp 3 1 2 0

Nestor, dp 4 0 2 2 Wells, 3b 3 0 1 2

b-Fiske 0 0 0 0 Gamblin, c 3 0 0 0

Curry, 3b 3 1 1 0 Sullivan, rf 2 0 1 0

Beck, ss 2 1 2 0 Murphy, cf 3 0 2 0

Rice, rf 4 0 1 0 McMullin, 1b 3 0 0 0

Surgen, lf 3 0 0 1

Turner, 1b 3 0 2 1

Totals 29 3 11 4 Totals 28 2 8 2

a-scored running for Mattuchia in the fifth

b-ran for Nestor in the fifth

Vermont 010 120 0 – 4

Maine 000 200 0 – 2

E – Wells, Gamblin 2B – Jewett; Barney, Nestor, Beck LOB – Vermont 10, Maine 6 SB – Turner, Howrigan; Cassie, Jewett SF – Surgen

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Vermont

Schoen (W 5-3) 4 7 2 2 0 1

Toms 3 1 0 0 1 1

Maine

Sawyer (L 1-5) 6 10 4 4 2 0

Bishop 1 1 0 0 0 1

TIME – 1:50 ATTENDANCE – 200