UMaine knocks off top seed Bears’ Merchant, ‘D’ shut out Albany 1-0

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ORONO – Three losses to Albany in the regular season didn’t deter the University of Maine when it came to Thursday’s America East conference tournament.

That’s because all three of the Bears’ losses were close – two were one-run games, including a 14-inning marathon, and another was a two-run game. So even though Maine didn’t have the wins, the Bears did have plenty of confidence.

Lindsey Tibbetts had an RBI single in the second to drive in Erin Provost for the winning run and also had two putouts at home plate as No. 4 Maine earned a 1-0 win over No. 1 Albany, knocking the Great Danes out of the winners’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament at Kessock Field.

“We played them awesome at Albany and I knew if we played them again we would come out on top,” catcher Tibbetts said.

The Black Bears (26-20) will take on No. 2 Stony Brook (30-31), which earned a 6-2 win over No. 3 Boston University in Thursday’s noon game, in an 11 a.m. game today. The winner advances to Saturday’s championship game at noon.

BU (23-31) and Albany (34-17) will play at 1:30 p.m. with the winner advancing to play the loser of the 11 a.m. game at 4 p.m.

Although Maine pitcher Jenna Merchant, who was named the America East Pitcher of the Year Wednesday, didn’t have her strongest outing, she did outduel Player of the Year Andee Lindgren.

Lindgren (18-3) allowed just five hits while walking one and striking out eight. The run she allowed was unearned, the result of a second-inning fielding error by Albany second baseman Jen Nolette.

Nolette’s miscue allowed Provost to reach. She moved to second on a Merchant sacrifice bunt, and then stole third.

After Lindgren walked Lauren Dulkis, Tibbetts knocked a 1-2 outside fastball to right-center and Provost scored easily.

“I like to battle with two strikes. I don’t mind having two strikes on me,” said Berwick’s Tibbetts, who hit an RBI single off Lindgren earlier this season. “I just went with the pitch. … I don’t mind hitting off her.”

Merchant (10-4) gave up 10 hits, but the baserunners didn’t shake the Bears, who again relied on their top-rated defense. Maine wasn’t perfect – first-team all-conference shortstop Brittany Cheney had the team’s only error, which turned out to be harmless – but the defense was flawless when it counted.

The Bears threw out two runners at home plate, one on a long throw from left fielder Erin Provost to Tibbetts and the other on a short scoop from Merchant to Tibbetts.

“I’m so proud of [the defense],” said Merchant, who legged out a triple in the fourth. “They were great.”

The Maine batterymates were trying to limit the Great Danes to easy outs for the defense.

“We were mixing it up just enough to get the fly balls and ground balls,” Tibbetts said. “We added the changeup here and there, threw in a lot of screwballs to get them to ground out to third and mixed inside and outside.”

Albany left 12 runners on base, including one in each inning. The Great Danes left the bases loaded in the fifth.

“We got a lot of hits but not the one big hit,” said Albany coach Chris Cannata. “And [Maine] played great defense when they needed to.”

In Thursday’s first game, Laura Bradford hit a two-run double for Stony Brook as the Seawolves rallied from a two-run deficit in the first with a three-run third. They piled on three more runs in the sixth.

BU (23-31) 200 000 0 – 2 5 2

Stony Brook (30-31) 003 003 x – 6 9 1

Detwiler and Mendez; Andrews and Vogl

BLACK BEARS 1, GREAT DANES 0

Maine (26-20) Albany (34-17)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Brady, cf 3 0 2 0 Nolette, 2b 4 0 0

Cheney, ss 3 0 1 0 Busch, lf 4 0 0

McKinney, dh 3 0 0 0 Ogden, 3b 4 0 0

Grimm, rf 0 0 0 0 Isaacs, pr 0 0 0

Kuhl, 1b 3 0 0 0 Lindgren, p 3 0 0

Provost, lf 3 1 0 0 Wieboldt, rf 4 0 0

Merchant, p 2 0 1 0 Rios, 1b 3 0 0

Belmonte, pr 0 0 0 0 Gannon, pr 0 0 0

Dulkis, 3b 2 0 0 0 Meacham, c 3 0 0

Tibbetts, c 3 0 1 1 Larsen, ss 3 0 0

Asadoorian, 2b 3 0 0 0 Burnham, cf 3 0

Totals 25 1 5 1 Totals 31 0 10 0

Maine 010 000 0 ? 1

Albany 000 000 0 ? 0

E?Cheney; Nolette; LOB?Maine 5, Albany 12; 2B?Rios; 3B?Merchant; S?Merchant; SB?Cheney, Provost

Albany IP H R ER BB SO

Lindgren (L, 18-3) 7 5 1 0 1 8

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Merchant (W, 10-4) 7 10 0 0 1 2

HBP?Rios by Merchant; T?1:53; ATT?175 (est.)