Kuhl sparks UM offense for 2 wins Pitcher Bennis notches 2 victories; Bears improve to 4-1 in conference

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ORONO – Amy Kuhl’s weekend seemed to mirror the way things went for the entire University of Maine softball team in its three-game, two-day conference series against Hartford.

Kuhl hit well in Maine’s 7-1 series-opening win Saturday. Hawks pitcher Briana Hout shut her down in Saturday’s second game, a 3-2 loss for the Black Bears.

And Sunday, just when it seemed as if the powerful junior would have another off day, she came through big for the Bears. Kuhl’s one-out double in the bottom of the eighth inning drove in Brittany Cheney for a 3-2 victory.

Sarah Bennis picked up two wins, including one in relief Sunday, as the Black Bears improved to 9-17, 4-1 in America East. Hartford fell to 5-9 (1-4).

The Bears are tied with Albany for second place in the conference

“We still have to play consistently,” UMaine coach Michelle Puls said. “We were up and down like crazy. We had 11 hits in the first game, then today the pitcher did a good job keeping us off-balance and we didn’t execute on some things late in the game. Overall, I’m very excited about the wins.”

The Bears were very aggressive on the bases Sunday, with mixed results. Dulkis ran through Puls’ stop sign after hitting a triple to drive in Erin Provost in the third inning, but was thrown out trying for home.

But Jess Brady, the next batter, walked and stole second, putting her in scoring position for Cheney’s single to shallow right.

Brady walked and stole second again in the eighth (her third steal of the game) but was caught trying to steal third.

In the end, that didn’t matter. Cheney also drew a walk and scored on Kuhl’s double to deep left-center. It was Kuhl’s first hit of the game and third of the weekend.

“I was struggling this game and hitting is totally mental,” she said. “One of my teammates [Christina Belmonte] gave me this pep talk and said, ‘Amy, don’t think. Just hit.’ And that’s what I did.”

Hartford coach Todd Randall said the Hawks went into the series knowing they had to stay away from Kuhl, going so far as to issue her an intentional walk in Saturday’s first game.

“We decided if she was going hurt us she was going to have to hit the ball the other way, which she did to end the game,” he said Sunday.

Except for a strong wind blowing in, Hartford nearly had a three-run homer when Hout smacked a ball to left, hitting the top of the fence. It turned out to be a two-run double.

Maine starter Candace Jaegge pitched six full innings, allowing four hits and two runs, but was pulled in favor of Bennis after she gave up a double to Kristie Rochette to lead off the seventh. Bennis came in and induced a Hout popup that third baseman Lauren Dulkis dropped.

With runners on first and second, Bennis struck out Amy Sullivan looking, then got Lisa Belval to fly out to Dulkis and fanned Ryan Williams.

“You have to be ready mentally when you go in, runners on or not,” Bennis said.

In Saturday’s first game, Bennis struck out 11 and walked one in the win.

Three Maine pitchers combined to hold the top of Hartford’s order to 5-for-29 (.172) batting.

“You want to get ahead of them to make them chase a pitch or get a groundout or a pop fly,” Bennis said. “I threw mostly curves to the top of the order – away, away, away.”

The Black Bears jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Brady and Cheney hit back-to-back triples.

Maine added four runs in the fifth, all with two outs. After a flyout and a putout, Cheney got the Bears going with a double to center. The Hawks walked Kuhl in order to pitch to Molly McKinney, but she drew a walk to load the bases.

Lindsey Tibbetts then lofted a triple to deep center field, driving in all three baserunners. Tibbetts scored on a Dana Grimm double.

The Bears had seven extra-base hits off Nicole McMillon.

Hartford’s only run came in the sixth when Williams beat out an infield single and eventually scored on another infield hit by Samantha Morrison.

In Saturday’s second game, the Bears loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but this bases-loaded situation didn’t go as well as it had in the previous game.

Maine scored one run thanks to a wild pitch, but couldn’t get the tying run to send it to extra innings. The Bears stranded eight runners in the game.

The Hawks struck first with a run in the fourth and Maine tied it in the sixth when Dulkis hit a ground single past the shortstop, advanced on a Kristie Hawkins walk and scored on Tibbetts’ single to right.

Sullivan’s two-run homer over the center-field fence in the top of the seventh gave the Hawks a 3-1 lead. The Bears tried to rally with a two-out single by Dulkis, who advanced on consecutive singles by Brady and Cheney and eventually scored on a wild pitch, but Hawkins grounded out to end the game.

Maine’s Jenna Merchant pitched well enough to win, allowing five hits while striking out nine and walking one.

BLACK BEARS 7, HAWKS 1

(Saturday’s First Game)

Hartford 1 Maine

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Williams, 3b 3 1 2 0 Dulkis, 3b 3 1 0

Rapoza, 2b 3 0 0 0 Brady, cf 4 1 1

Borawski, ss 3 0 1 0 Cheney, ss 4 2 1

Thompson, c 3 0 0 0 Kuhl, dh 3 1 1

Morrison, cf 3 0 1 1 Ramos, 2b 0 0 0

Hout, dh 3 0 0 0 Vilardo, pr 0 0 0

Rochette, rf 3 0 1 0 McKinney, lf 3 1 0

Sullivan, 1b 3 0 0 0 L. Tibbetts, c 3 1 3

Mariano, lf 0 0 0 0 Grimm, rf 3 0 1

Belval, lf 2 0 0 0 Hawkins, 1b 3 0 0

Bennis, p 3 0 0 0

Totals 26 1 5 1 Totals 29 7 11 7

Hartford 000 001 0 – 1

Maine 300 040 x – 7

E-Sullivan; LOB-Hartford 5, Maine 7; 2B-Brady, Cheney, Kuhl, Grimm; 3B-Brady, Cheney, L. Tibbetts

Hartford IP H R ER BB SO

McMillon (L,1-4) 6 11 7 7 3 4

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Bennis (W,5-5) 7 5 1 1 1 11

WP-McMillon; T-1:50

HAWKS 3, BLACK BEARS 2

(Saturday’s Second Game)

Hartford (5-8) Maine (8-17)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Williams, 3b 2 0 0 0 Dulkis, 3b 3 2 0

Rapoza, 2b 3 0 0 0 Brady, cf 3 0 0

Borawski, ss 3 1 1 0 Cheney, ss 4 0 0

Thompson, c 3 0 0 0 Kuhl, 1b 0 0 0

Morrison, cf 3 0 0 0 Vilardo, pr 0 0 0

Hout, p 3 0 1 0 Hawkins, 1b 1 0 0

Rochette, rf 3 1 2 0 L. Tibbetts, dh 3 0 0

Sullivan, 1b 3 1 1 2 Joseph, pr 0 0 0

Belval, lf 3 0 0 0 Belmonte, lf 0 0 0

Merchant, p 2 0 0 0

Grimm, rf 3 0 0 0

Provost, 2b 3 0 0 0

Soule, c 2 0 0 0

Jaegge, c 1 0 0 0

Totals 26 3 5 2 Totals 25 2 5 0

Hartford 000 100 2 – 3

Maine 000 001 1 – 2

E-Rapoza; Kuhl; LOB-Hartford 3, Maine 8; 2B-Rochette; HR-Sullivan (3); DP-Sullivan (unassisted), Borawski-Rapoza-Sullivan; Kuhl-Cheney-Provost; S-Thompson; SB-Dulkis

Hartford IP H R ER BB SO

Hout (W,1-2) 7 5 2 1 3 3

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Merchant (L,1-2) 7 5 3 3 1 9

HBP-Brady, Kuhl, Merchant by Hout; WP-Hout; T-2:00; ATT-138

BLACK BEARS 3, HAWKS 2

(Sunday’s Game, 8 innings)

Hartford (5-9) Maine (9-17)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Williams, 3b 4 0 0 0 Dulkis, 3b 4 0 1

Rapoza, 2b 4 0 1 0 Brady, cf 2 1 0

Borawski, ss 4 0 0 0 Cheney, ss 3 1 1

Thompson, c 3 1 0 0 Kuhl, dh 4 0 1

Morrison, cf 3 0 0 0 McKinney, lf 0 0 0

Rochette, rf 3 1 2 0 Tibbetts, c 3 0 0

Hout, dh-p 2 0 1 2 Jaegge, p 3 0 0

Sullivan, 1b 3 0 0 0 Vilardo, pr 0 0 0

Belval, lf 3 0 0 0 Hawkins, 1b 3 0 0

Grimm, rf 3 0 1 0

Provost, 2b 2 1 0 0

Totals 29 2 4 2 Totals 27 3 8 3

Hartford 000 200 00 – 2

Maine 002 000 01 – 3

E-Dulkis; LOB-Hartford 5, Maine 6; 2B-Rochette, Hout; Kuhl; 3B-Dulkis; DP-Borawski-Sullivan; SB-Brady 3

Hartford IP H R ER BB SO

Eichler 7* 7 2 2 3 4

Hout (L,1-3) 1/3 1 1 1 1 0

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Jaegge 6^ 4 2 2 2 4

Bennis (W,6-5) 2 0 0 0 0 2

T-2:07; ATT-108

*-faced one batter in the seventh

^-faced one batter in the sixth