ORONO – The University of Maine shook off a slow start and took advantage of errors by the University of Vermont to win the first game, then the Catamounts made Maine pay for miscues to win the second.

The Black Bears pounced on the Catamounts for nine runs in the first three innings en route to a 9-4 victory in the opener of Saturday afternoon’s America East softball doubleheader at Kessock Field, but then watched Vermont score six in the first three before notching a 7-3 win.

“Vermont scraps for seven innings and they capitalized on every mistake we made, whether it was in the circle or in the field,” said UMaine coach Stacy Sullivan. “The team that ends up winning is the one that makes the fewest mistakes.

“We’re one of the better defensive teams in the conference and we have to live up to that, especially the way our pitching has been of late.”

The Bears put pitching, defense and offense all together Sunday afternoon to rally and win the series rubber game 4-3. Kristen Calvetti’s one-out single up the middle scored Ashley Waters from second with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.

The clutch hit helped the Bears improve to 8-35 overall and 7-7 in conference play while Vermont goes to 11-22 (4-10). It also made a winner of UM starting pitcher Jenna Balent for the second time in two days.

In Saturday’s first game, Balent (5-12) gave up four hits and three runs in the first inning, but settled down to hold the Catamounts to four hits, a walk and an unearned run the rest of the game while ringing up six strikeouts.

“They were ready to go early on me, but I was able to mix speeds and pitches more and hold them tight the rest of the game,” Balent said. “My changeup helped set up pitches a lot and my drop-ball was working really well today.”

Sullivan was impressed with Balent’s resiliency.

“She did find a good rhythm out there. I was real pleased with her,” Sullivan said. “She kept us in the game and didn’t back down.”

The Bears scrapped back for a run in the first after the first two hitters struck out. Waters was hit by a pitch, advanced to third on a fielding error, and scored on a wild pitch.

Maine opened things up in the second with six runs off six hits and three Vermont errors.

“She [Vermont starting pitcher Aimee Kern] threw a very consistent game, but with our errors in that second inning, we let ourselves get taken out of the game, lost focus, and got a little rattled,” said Vermont coach Marcie Hickey.

Maine’s six hits in the second were the only ones Kern gave up as she retired the last nine straight batters and finished with one walk, 13 strikeouts, and four earned runs.

Waters led the way with a double and two RBIs.

In Saturday’s second game, each team scored twice in the first, but Vermont added four more runs over the next three innings plus another in the seventh while limiting Maine to one in the third.

Alison Daggett (4-3) walked five while pitching a three-hitter and notching four strikeouts to earn the win.

“She has great spin on her ball, but it looked like she was throwing harder today than she has been,” said Hickey. “She also hits good locations and was ahead of most of the batters.”

Caroline Goddard and Kate Haber each singled twice for Vermont.

Waters doubled again for Maine. Freshman Terren Hall had two RBIs without a hit.

aneff@bangordailynews.net

990-8205

BLACK BEARS 9, CATAMOUNTS 4

(Saturday’s First Game)

Vermont Maine

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Eloschuk, rf 4 1 2 0 Souhlaris, cf 4 0 0

Goddard, dh 4 1 2 0 Spangler, c 3 1 1

Haber, ss 2 1 1 0 Waters, 2b 2 2 2

Connolly, 1b 3 0 0 1 Hall, 3b 4 0 0

Rizza, lf 3 1 0 0 Calvetti, ss 3 0 1

Boone, c 3 0 1 2 Allen, 1b 3 1 0

Kern, p 2 0 0 0 Burnham, lf 2 2 0

Stagliano, cf 2 0 0 0 George, dh 2 0

Toxzylowski, ph 1 0 1 1 Iandoli, rf 2 1

Crosby, 2b 2 0 0 0

Borisenkok, 3b 0 0 0 0

Totals 26 4 7 4 Totals 25 9 6 5

Vermont 300 001 0 – 4

Maine 162 000 x – 9

E-Haber 2; Connolly, Kern, Calvetti; LOB-Vermont 6; Maine 4; 2B-Boone, Toczylowski; Waters; S-Haber, Kern; SF-Connolly; Waters; SB-Eloschuk

Vermont IP H R ER BB SO

Kern (L, 4-12) 6 6 9 4 1 13

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Balent (W, 4-12) 7 7 4 3 1 7

HBP-Waters (by Kern), George (by Kern), Iandoli (by Kern), Spangler (by Kern); Crosby (by Balent); WP-Kern 2; T-1:56

CATAMOUNTS 7, BLACK BEARS 3

(Saturday’s Second Game)

Vermont Maine

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Eloschuk, rf 4 2 1 0 Souhlaris, p-cf 3 0 0

Goddard, dh 3 1 2 0 Spangler, c-dh 3 1 0

Haber, ss 3 1 2 1 Waters, 2b 3 1 1

Connolly, 3b 4 0 1 0 Hall, 3b 1 0 2

Sisson, pr 0 1 0 0 Calvetti, ss 3 0 0

Borisenok, pr-3b 0 0 0 0 Allen, 1b 3 0

Rizza, lf 3 0 1 0 Burnham, cf-lf 3 0 0

Toczylowski, 1b 2 0 0 0 George, dh-c 2 0

Monahan, pr 0 1 0 0 Corssino, ph 1 0 0

Kern, pr-1b 0 1 0 0 Iandoli, rf 2 1 0

Boone, c 4 0 1 2 Hodgson, lf 0 0 0

Stagliano, cf 2 0 0 0

Crosby, 2b 3 0 1 1

Totals 28 7 9 4 Totals 24 3 3 3

Vermont 212 100 1 – 7

Maine 201 000 0 – 3

E-Connolly, Boone; Souhlaris, Calvetti, Allen, Hodgson; LOB-Vermont 9; Maine 6; 2B-Boone, Waters; S-Goddard, Haber; Rizza, Hall; SB-Haber

Vermont IP H R ER BB SO

Daggett (W, 4-3) 7 3 3 2 5 4

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Souhlaris (L, 2-10) 3 5 5 2 1 3

Montano 4 4 2 2 5 4

WP-Souhlaris; PB-Spangler; T-2:27; ATT-176

BLACK BEARS 4, CATAMOUNTS 3

(Sunday Afternoon)

Vermont (11-22) Maine (8-35)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Eloschuk, rf 3 1 1 0 Souhlaris, cf 4 1 0

Goddard, dh 4 0 2 1 Spangler, dh 4 0 0

Haber, ss 4 0 0 0 Waters, 2b 4 1 0

Connolly, 3b 3 0 1 1 Hall, 3b 4 0 1

Rizza, lf 3 1 2 0 Calvetti, ss 4 0 1

Toczylowski, 1b 2 0 0 0 Corssino, pr 0 0

Boone, c 3 0 0 1 Allen, 1b 3 0 0

Stagliano, cf 3 1 1 0 Hodgson, pr 0 0

Crosby, 2b 2 0 0 0 Burnham, lf 3 0 0

George, c 2 0 0 1

Iandoli, rf 3 1 1 1

Totals 27 3 7 3 Totals 31 4 9 4

Vermont 011 000 1 – 3

Maine 100 011 1 – 4

E-Haber; Connolly; LOB-Vermont 6; Maine 9; 2B-Rizza; Waters; HR-Iandoli; S-Toczylowski; Crosby; SB-Eloschuk; Spangler, Waters

Vermont IP H R ER BB SO

Daggett 5 7 3 2 0 6

Kern (L, 4-13) 1 1/3 2 1 1 0 3

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Balent (W, 5-12) 7 7 3 3 0 10

HBP-Eloschuk (by Balent); George (by Kern); WP-Daggett 2; T-2:00; ATT-207