ORONO – University of Maine softball player Sara Asadoorian had a tough decision to make before last Saturday’s doubleheader at Hartford – play in what could have been the final games of the Black Bears’ season, or participate in graduation ceremonies here.

The senior chose to stay in Orono to “close a chapter,” she said, on her kinesiology and physical education degree. But Asadoorian was aware of what was going on in Connecticut as the Black Bears swept a doubleheader to gain a spot in the America East championship tournament, which starts today at UMaine’s Kessock Field.

“I had my cell phone with me at the ceremony so I kept calling my teammates to get updates,” she said earlier this week. “Everyone had their cell phones. We kept in touch.”

Once graduation was over, Asadoorian turned her focus back to softball. She and classmate Nikki Taylor, an injured first baseman, drove to Hartford later Saturday for Sunday’s game, the last one of the series and a win for the Bears.

As a result of the three-game sweep, No. 4 Maine (25-20, 12-8 in America East) faces No. 1 Albany (34-16, 17-2) at 2:30 p.m. Second seed Stony Brook and No. 3 Boston University play the opener at noon.

The Whitinsville, Mass., native grew up playing baseball with her older brother Rick, a first-round draft pick (17th overall) of the Red Sox in the 1999 draft, just a few picks after pitchers Josh Beckett of Florida (second), Barry Zito of Oakland (ninth) and Ben Sheets of Milwaukee (10th), who are now stars in the majors. The pick came from Anaheim when former Boston first baseman Mo Vaughn signed with the Angels.

Rick Asadoorian, a center fielder, is now in the Texas Rangers organization playing Double-A ball for the Frisco RoughRiders in Frisco, Texas. He is batting .221 in 24 games.

“He’s doing really well, he really is,” she said. “He was able to come to our first two games in Florida, and that was good. He got to see me in my last season.”

Second baseman Asadoorian has been a mainstay of a UMaine defense ranked first in the conference with a .965 fielding percentage and league-low 50 errors. She has a .964 fielding percentage and five errors in 34 games.

“Every team has their bad innings or errors but our defense has always been really strong,” she said. “We’re going into this tournament feeling really confident with our defense. … infield, outfield, we’re pretty solid.”

While strong on defense, Asadoorian has never been a big hitter. Her offensive numbers are up slightly this season, however.

Asadoorian, whose three-year batting average is .176, is hitting .207 going into today’s game. She has 85 career hits and just four RBIs, but she knows her role isn’t necessarily to get on base.

“The most important thing is that we get base runners on and my job is to move them,” she said. “Whether I get on or not isn’t really important as long as I do my job. Usually I’ll come up with a random hit somewhere, but I just concentrate on getting my job done.”

If Asadoorian and rest of the Black Bears are to get their jobs done Thursday, they’ll likely have to go through Albany pitcher Andee Lindgren, the league’s player of the year, who has a league-low 1.06 earned run average. In the two games in which she beat Maine earlier this season Lindgren gave up 10 hits, three runs (one earned), walked four and struck out 13.

Albany beat Maine three times this year, so there’s plenty of motivation for the Bears. But the idea of hosting the conference tournament for the first time has pushed the Black Bears for the season.

“We didn’t want to be the team hosting the tournament and then not make the tournament,” Asadoorian said. “We’re going after it. We have the conference tournament, and there’s no better way to do it than on our home field.”