Bears were solid offensively, but pitching struggled

What do you call a team that sets a school record for home runs in a season, and still manages to lose its first 28 games and 39 of 50 games?

Well, if you’re University of Maine softball coach Stacy Sullivan, you do it this way:

“I’ve been telling my assistants we are the best worst team out there,” she said without so much as a chuckle.

Um, care to elaborate on that coach?

“We’ve played 10 teams that are going to the NCAA Regionals next week,” she said. “We’re a good team with a bad record and several strengths, but some obvious weaknesses that stare us in the face every day.”

It’s hard to argue with her assessment. The Black Bears were in America East with a school record 38 home runs (UMBC had 39), were ranked offensively in the top half of AE teams, and ranked third in fielding, yet they missed the AE tournament with a 10-11 conference record and finished 11-39 overall.

“What’s too bad about it is for us to have such a huge accomplishment, it makes the number of losses we had that much harder to swallow,” Sullivan said. “How do you have 39 homers with that many losses?”

The answer lies with inconsistent defense down the stretch and weak pitching for most of the season.

“We were among the top offensive teams in the conference and second-to-last in pitching,” Sullivan said. “Our Achilles heal was getting something going at the right time and sealing the deal when it came to games we led. We were lacking in our mental makeup.”

Only Binghamton had a higher ERA than Maine’s 4.62. Opponents batted a robust .329 against UM pitching all season.

Junior righthander Jenna Balent struggled early, but turned things around and became a statistical and emotional leader, throwing all 21 innings in a three-game series against Hartford and winding up 7-15 with a 3.79 ERA after starting the conference portion of the schedule 2-11 and 4.59.

“She did a good job of getting herself in a good frame down the stretch,” Sullivan said. “She went back to the drawing board on a couple things and was able to go back to basic fundamentals that worked best for her.”

Other individual standouts were junior second baseman and AE Player of the Year Ashley Waters (.352, 10 home runs, 30 RBIs) and freshman third baseman Terren Hall (.258, nine homers, 31 RBIs) of Bucksport.

“Ashley had a phenomenal year. She came in ready to go and it showed. She had a .600 slugging percentage, which was phenomenal,” Sullivan said. “Terren is legitimately one of the best hitters in the conference and she proved that.”

Hall’s nine homers are a UM record for a rookie. She broke the mark of six set by Sara Jewett in 1997.

“Power was a focus for us. A lot of kids were able to increase their power with a new program along with a new coach,” Sullivan said of the power surge. “We were trying to change the culture of this program in the weight room with a heavy emphasis on strength and conditioning.”

Despite a disappointing end to this season, Sullivan has reason for optimism as all starters return from a team with no seniors.

“Today is the first day of next season and there are nine positions up for grabs again. The previous year doesn’t matter,” she said. “Plus we’re adding five players, a considerable amount of speed, a pitcher, a catcher, and hopefully better depth and bench strength.”

The addition of Hermon High ace Ashley Kelley should significantly strengthen the pitching rotation, but even if the recruiting class wasn’t strong, Sullivan would be excited.

“The character of this group is exceptional and I think they’ll come back strong from this and much more motivated,” she said.

aneff@bangordailynews.net

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