Black Bears overcome wind, White Mules

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ORONO – In addition to contending with the Colby College softball team, the University of Maine had to deal with a swirling wind during Tuesday afternoon’s game at Kessock Field.

And Colby had to deal with Maine’s pitchers, two of whom combined to throw a one-hitter in the Black Bears’ 4-0 victory.

Courtney Gingrich earned the win while Sarah Bennis was her usual overpowering self in relief to help the Black Bears move to 27-15, which is tied for the fourth-most wins in a season for the Maine program.

The White Mules of Waterville, who got solid pitching performances from Alyssa Crowell and Lauren Olmsted, fell to 6-13.

Just a few of the Black Bear regulars started in the field to give the bench players a chance against the Div. III opponent.

“We had to come out and play our game, play like we know how,” said freshman Gingrich, who is also a part-time third baseman. “We wanted to come out and get everything crisp and use it to get some game time in.”

Gingrich, who struck out one and walked none, gave up the only Colby hit to Amy Palmer.

Palmer hit a two-out single in the third but was forced out at second base to end the inning.

“My go-to pitch is my screwball, so we were using that a lot,” said Gingrich, who is now 1-2. “We were getting them inside a lot.”

Bennis, who is among the America East leaders in strikeouts, fanned seven in three innings. She also walked two.

Crowell gave up a leadoff single to Tara Vilardo in the first, but the Bears were unable to break through until the third when Brittany Cheney singled home Meagan Ramos, who also singled. Kate Joseph drew a two-out walk and eventually scored on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead.

Maine’s Maggie Soule may have benefited the most from the windy weather in the fourth as the Bears added two more runs.

After a groundout started the inning, Christina Belmonte reached second on a Colby throwing error. Soule then hit a popup to shallow left, with the wind making a catch tough for the Colby fielders. Soule got all the way to second for a double and Belmonte scored.

“Thank God for the wind,” said Soule, who sympathized with both teams’ defenses. “I was watching our outfielders with the pop flies, and it was brutal.”

Colby limited Maine to six hits. Mules coach Dick Bailey was pleased with his team’s play, which included a few hard shots to the outfield.

“Kara Fagan clocked the ball out there and the wind was blowing in,” he said of a fourth-inning drive to left that ended as a flyout. “If the wind’s turned around, it goes the other way. The nice thing that Maine does is they get on top of the ball and hit it on the ground. We slid underneath it, and in weather like this, you can’t hit fly balls.”

BLACK BEARS 4, WHITE MULES 0

Colby (6-13) Maine (27-15)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Clark, lf 3 0 0 0 Vilardo, 3b 2 0 0

Fagan, rf 2 0 0 0 Bennis, p 0 0 0

Minichino, 3b 3 0 0 0 Joseph, rf 1 0

T. Starr, 1b 3 0 0 0 Smith, rf 1 0 0

Olmsted, dh-p 3 0 0 0 Cheney, ss 3 1

Whitfield, ss 0 0 0 0 Kuhl, 1b 2 0

Puskar, 2b 3 0 0 0 Hawkins, 1b 1 0 0

Widlanski, c 3 0 0 0 Gingrich, p-3b 3 0 0

Crowell, p-dh 1 0 0 0 Belmonte, lf 1 0

Palmer, cf 2 0 1 0 McKinney, lf 1 0 0

Grimm, cf 2 0 0 0

Provost, cf 1 0 1 0

Soule, c 2 1 1 1

Foltz, c 1 0 0 0

Ramos, 2b 1 1 1 0

Waters, 2b 1 0 1 0

Totals 23 0 1 0 Totals 23 4 6 2

Colby 000 000 0 – 0

Maine 002 200 x – 4

E-Crowell; Bennis; LOB-Colby 4, Maine 4; 2B-Soule; DP-Widlanski-Minichino; SB-Vilardo

Colby IP H R ER BB SO

Crowell (L,2-3) 4 5 4 2 2 2

Olmsted 2 1 0 0 1 2

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Gingrich (W,1-2) 4 1 0 0 0 1

Bennis 3 0 0 0 2 7

WP-Crowell; PB-Foltz; T-1:23; ATT-103