Maine bats heat up in 6-1 victory Bears’ Bennis 2-hits UMBC

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ORONO – The University of Maine softball team put a complete game together Friday in a series-opening game against the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Sarah Bennis threw a two-hitter and the Bears got production from each spot in the lineup en route to a 6-1 victory over the Retrievers at Kessock Field.

The teams return Saturday at 11 a.m. for a doubleheader.

Maine (16-14, 4-3 in America East) pounded out 13 hits but went to a small-ball game which produced two runs in the first inning. Brittany Cheney and Jess Brady opened with back-to-back bunt singles, and both advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Lauren Dulkis.

Then the Bears pulled out a different look – Molly McKinney hit a sacrifice fly to left field, which allowed Cheney to score. Brady came home when Nikki Taylor singled down the right-field line.

“Whenever you can get the other team off-guard, it helps a lot,” Cheney said of the leadoff bunts. “The short game works so much in softball. And their corners were playing pretty deep, so we thought we could jump on them like that. … It’s just so exciting to have our bats that hot.”

Lindsey Tibbetts added another run in the second when she singled, advanced on a groundout and a Cheney single, and scored on a Dulkis single.

Erin Provost hit a two-run single in the fourth. Light-hitting Sara Asadoorian singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch in the fifth.

“We had two strikes on a lot of batters and [Maine] put the ball in play,” UMBC coach Joe French said. “[Maine] had a couple of bloopers, a couple of bunts, and that changed things. [Maine] capitalized on all that.”

Bennis struggled to find the strike zone at first, giving up two walks in the first inning and hitting a batter in the second (the baserunners weren’t an issue as the Black Bears had inning-ending double plays).

But Bennis settled down, mixing in a screwball and a drop for eight strikeouts and two walks.

Bennis and batterymate Tibbetts were clutch in the top of the fourth as UMBC’s Reilly Ward doubled and advanced to third on a low pitch snared quickly by Tibbetts. Bennis struck out the next batter, induced a groundout for the second out, and caught Gina Olivieri looking at a drop ball for the final out.

“I was trying to get her to chase at something outside,” said Bennis, who is now 4-7. “… [Tibbetts] had a great pick in the dirt to keep that run at third.”

Sarah Crowell hit an RBI double in the third to score Amanda Bile for UMBC’s only run. Bile had reached on an error.

The Black Bears chased starter Amy Sadowl (7-8) after just 2 2/3 innings. Sadowl and reliever Kelly Claar combined to walk three and strike out five.

Scheduling changes and bad weather up and down the East Coast this week meant the Retrievers played a doubleheader at Binghamton Thursday afternoon and arrived in Orono Friday with about an hour to spare before the 4 p.m. game.

BLACK BEARS 6, RETRIEVERS 1

UMBC (20-24) Maine (16-14)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Bile, lf 2 1 0 0 Cheney, ss 3 1 0

Crowell, rf 2 0 1 1 Brady, cf 4 2 0

Pickeral, 3b 2 0 0 0 Dulkis, 3b 3 1 1

Ward, ss 3 0 1 0 McKinney, dh 2 0 1

Troster, ss 0 0 0 0 Kuhl, dh 1 0 0

Claar, dh-p 3 0 0 0 Provost, lf 3 0 2

Beveridge, 1b 2 0 0 0 Taylor, 1b 2 1

Olivieri, 2b 2 0 0 0 b-Foltz 1 0 0 0

Oursler, 2b 1 0 0 0 Grimm, rf 4 0 0

Lindsey, cf 2 0 0 0 Tibbetts, c 1 1 0

Sadowl, p-dh 1 0 0 0 a-Vilardo 1 0 0

Bennett, dh 1 0 0 0 Asadoorian, 2b 3 1 0

SanFilippo, c 0 0 0 0

Taylor, c 0 0 0 0

Totals 21 1 2 1 Totals 28 6 13 5

a-struck out for Tibbetts in the 5th; b-reached on fielder’s choice for Taylor in the 6th

Maryland Baltimore County 001 000 0 ? 1

Maine 210 210 x ? 6

E?Ward; Taylor; LOB?UMBC 3, Maine 10; 2B?Crowell, Ward; Grimm; DP?Grimm-Cheney, Asadoorian-Cheney-Taylor; S?Crowell; Dulkis; SF?McKinney; SB?Cheney, Asadoorian

UMBC IP H R ER BB SO

Sadowl (L,7-8) 2 2/3 7 3 3 1 1

Claar 3 1/3 6 3 0 2 4

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Bennis (W,4-7) 7 2 1 1 2 8

HBP?Beveridge by Bennis; Taylor by Sadowl; WP?Claar; PB?SanFilippo; T?2:01; ATT?75 (est.)