Maine wins regular-season crown

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ORONO – The University of Maine softball team celebrated its doubleheader victory Friday evening the same way the Black Bears have celebrated most of their wins this season.

They strode out of their dugout at Kessock Field and congratulated their pitcher on another top-notch performance.

This time, though, it wasn’t just any doubleheader sweep.

Maine’s two wins over the University of Maryland Baltimore County were enough to sew up the America East regular-season title and the right to host the conference tournament, which will begin May 11.

“It’s exciting,” said senior shortstop Brittany Cheney, who went 4-for-5 with two RBIs in the doubleheader. “We have a group that enjoys each other and plays well together, and that makes it all worth it.”

Ashley Waters drove in the winning run as the Black Bears held off the Retrievers in the first game for a 2-1 win in eight innings, while Jenna Balent tossed a two-hitter in the second game to blank UMBC 5-0.

The Bears (35-16, 16-4 in America East) have one regular-season game left against UMBC today at 11 a.m., but Maine has enough wins to hold off Albany, which will finish in either second or third place.

The regular-season title is Maine’s first since 1994.

While Maine and Albany are in, the rest of the field has yet to be decided. UMBC, Boston University and Stony Brook are all in contention for the four-team tournament.

In the first game, Maine struggled to score runs, stranding 13 runners in eight innings. But Waters pushed across the winning run with help from Maggie Soule, Dana Grimm and Tara Vilardo.

Soule led off the inning with a walk and advanced on a Grimm sacrifice bunt, followed by a one-out Vilardo single that got Soule to third. UMBC pitcher Lauren Nicholson induced a popup for the second out, bringing Waters to the plate.

Waters doubled in the seventh, when the Bears stranded runners at second and third. But she had also struck out looking twice.

Nicholson had a full count on Waters, but she lined a hit to right, more than enough to bring in Soule.

“She had two strikes on me, but I wasn’t thinking about it,” Waters said. “I just thought, anything close. You’ve gotta protect.”

Bennis walked seven in the win – her 19th of the season, which ties her with Deb Smith (1994) and Cynthia Harrington (1995) – but she limited UMBC’s potent offense to just five hits. Melanie Denischuk and Courtney O’Hara, who are among the top hitters in the nation, combined to go 1-for-7.

The Retrievers also stranded 13 baserunners.

Maine led early when Vilardo scored on an error in the bottom of the second. Bennis held the Retrievers until the fifth, when Denischuk walked and eventually came home on an RBI single by Stevie Shore.

The Bears nearly regained the lead in the lead in the sixth as Vilardo laid down a bunt to squeeze home pinch runner Christina Belmonte, but Belmonte was put out at home.

In the second game, Balent twirled a one-hitter through six innings and gave up two overall, allowing just one other baserunner on a hit-by-pitch.

“I was just going after the batters, trying to get ahead of them and shut them down,” said Balent, who struck out four. “… I don’t think there was added pressure [to get the second win]. We just had to come out and do what we had to do.”

The momentum from the first-game win seemed to carry over into the nightcap.

Waters continued to hit the ball hard with a one-out triple in the first inning. She came in on a Cheney single, and Cheney got to third on an error in the outfield. She went on to score on a passed ball.

Provost hit a two-run double in the second and Cheney added an RBI single – her 60th of the season, two hits away from tying the single-season record – as the Bears took a 5-0 lead.

“We wanted to put it away,” Cheney said. “We play so much better when we’re relaxed so we wanted to make it a lot easier on ourselves.”

BLACK BEARS 2, RETRIEVERS 1 (8 inns.)

(Friday’s First Game)

UMBC (44-17) Maine (34-16)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Shirk, cf 4 0 0 0 Provost, rf 5 0 0

O’Hara, lf 5 0 1 0 Waters, 2b 5 0 1

Denischuk, 1b 2 0 0 0 Cheney, ss 3 0

O’Rourke, pr 0 1 0 0 McKinney, lf 1 0 0

Shepherd, ss 4 0 0 0 Kuhl, dh 4 0 0

Ward, 3b 3 0 2 0 Hawkins, 1b 4 0 0

Griffith, c 3 0 0 0 Belmonte, pr 0 0 0

Shore, dh-rf 4 0 2 1 Soule, c 2 1 0

Olivieri, rf-dh 2 0 0 0 Ramos, ph 1 0

Kearns, ph 1 0 0 0 Grimm, cf 2 0 0

Underwood, 2b 3 0 0 0 Vilardo, 3b 4 0

Bennett, pr 0 0 0 0

Totals 31 1 5 1 Totals 31 2 11 1

UMBC 000 010 00 – 1

Maine 010 000 01 – 2

E-Shepherd 2, O’Hara, Olivieri; Vilardo; LOB-UMBC 13, Maine 13; 2B-Waters, Hawkins, Grimm; S-McKinney 2, Grimm; SB-Shirk, Ward; Grimm 2, Vilardo 2

UMBC IP H R ER BB SO

Nicholson (L, 18-3) 7 2/3 11 2 1 3 5

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Bennis (W, 19-6) 8 5 1 1 7 3

HBP-Grimm by Nicholson; WP-Bennis 3; T-2:22; ATT-308

BLACK BEARS 5, RETRIEVERS 0

(Friday’s Second Game)

UMBC (44-18) Maine (35-16)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Shirk, cf 3 0 1 0 Provost, rf 3 1 2

Denischuk, 1b 3 0 1 0 Gingrich, ph 1 0

Ward, 3b 3 0 0 0 Waters, 2b 2 1 0

Shepherd, ss 3 0 0 0 Ramos, 2b 1 0 0

O’Hara, lf 1 0 0 0 Cheney, ss 2 1 2

Olivieri, lf 1 0 0 0 McKinney, lf 3 0 0

Bennett, ph 1 0 0 0 Belmonte, lf 0 0 0

Griffith, c-dh 2 0 0 0 Kuhl, dh 3 0

Shore, 2b-c 2 0 0 0 Hawkins, 1b 3 1 0

Kearns, p 2 0 0 0 Joseph, pr 0 0 0

Underwood, dh-2b 1 0 0 0 Foltz, c 3 0

O’Rourke, rf-pr 0 0 0 0 Grimm, cf 3 0

Vilardo, 3b 2 0 0 0

Smith, pr 0 0 0 0

Totals 22 0 2 0 Totals 26 5 7 4

UMBC 000 000 0 – 0

Maine 230 000 x – 5

E-Shirk, Ward, Shore; LOB-UMBC 2, Maine 6; 2B-Provost; 3B-Waters; DP-Hawkins-Cheney-Waters; Hawkins (una.)

UMBC IP H R ER BB SO

Kearns (L, 5-4) 6 7 5 1 2 9

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Balent (W, 14-10) 7 2 0 0 0 4

HBP-Underwood (by Balent); WP-Kearns; PB-Griffith; T-1:32; ATT-308