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ORONO – The University of Maine softball team will close out the regular season this weekend with a three-game series against Stony Brook. Although things aren’t do-or-die for the Black Bears to make the postseason, the team needs at least one win to sew up a spot in the four-team America East tournament.
Maine will face the Seawolves in a doubleheader Saturday starting at 2 p.m. followed by Sunday’s single game at noon.
The Bears are sitting in third place with a 9-7 conference record, while Stony Brook is fifth at 9-9.
“We have to take care of business,” said Michelle Puls, Maine’s interim head coach. “The good thing about it is … all the teams vying for position are playing each other.”
It’s going to be a competitive weekend around the league as the teams below No. 4 Hartford are also fighting for postseason spots.
Albany (14-2), which is sitting atop the conference, will play No. 6 University of Maryland Baltimore County (7-10), which has a chance to squeeze into fourth place if it can gain a sweep. No. 2 Boston University (12-4) will face the 8-8 Hawks.
Puls said even if Maine takes just one out of three this weekend the Bears will go in third because Hartford can’t beat Maine’s conference record and Maine took two of three against the Hawks earlier this season.
The only chance the Bears have of being knocked out of contention, Puls added, is if Stony Brook wins all three games and Hartford sweeps BU.
Last year the Black Bears needed to win their final three games of the regular season, which came against Hartford. Maine swept the Hawks, went into the tourney at Kessock Field in Orono in fourth, and won the conference title.
Puls said she liked the way Maine’s offense picked up last week as the Bears went 2-3 against BU and UMBC.
“If you look at the past six conference games, our hitting has picked up,” she said. “We’re hitting the ball well. Other teams are hitting the ball well, too, but that’s what you want this time of year.”
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