LINCOLN, Neb. – Six little bunts, and the University of Maine softball team’s season ended in an elimination game at an NCAA regional tournament.

The eighth-seeded Black Bears struggled to hit again Friday in their elimination game against Iowa, while the No. 5-seeded Hawkeyes went to their small-ball offense to earn a 2-0 win, knocking the Black Bears out of the postseason.

Maine, which looked stronger as the season moved on and returns all but two seniors for the 2005 campaign, finished with a 28-23 record, including the America East Conference championship. That record also includes Thursday’s 4-0 first-round loss to California, the No. 2 team in the nation and the regional’s top seed, but the defeat still gave the Black Bears a big lift for Friday morning’s game at Bowlin Stadium.

“When you play California one day and keep them scoreless through six, that’s a huge confidence booster,” sophomore shortstop Brittany Cheney said. ” … We came into this game thinking if we could play with California we could play with anyone. We just gave it our all and we came up short.”

Iowa moves on to face Creighton, which lost to host Nebraska 2-0 Friday afternoon.

Iowa’s Lisa Birocci, the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, struck out 10 Bears and walked three. Maine had at least one baserunner in all but the fourth and sixth innings and had runners on first and second in the fifth but were unable to bring anybody home.

“We didn’t do a good job executing our bunts today,” UMaine coach Deb Smith said. “For us that was one thing that hurt us a lot, not getting our runners moved over and into scoring position.”

Iowa didn’t have as much trouble moving people thanks to the six bunts and a double that resulted in the two runs.

Kylie Murray led off the second with a double and Birocci reached first on a bunt that moved pinch runner Abby Ruff to third. Maine third baseman Lauren Dulkis tried to throw Birocci out at first, but the ball bounced in the dirt and rolled, allowing Murray to score and Birocci to get to second.

Sarah Thomson then hit a sacrifice bunt that put Birocci at third, but the Maine defense got the final two outs of the inning without any more damage.

“We were a little bit [surprised by the bunts], but we made some adjustments. We knew to play in a little bit more,” Dulkis said.

Iowa went right back at it in the third. Laura Chipman led off with a bunt, Natalie Johnson bunted her over to second, and both runners moved up on an Amanda Hentges sacrifice bunt. Stacy May bunted again to plate Chipman.

“When you’re not swinging the bat, you have to find a way to score runs,” Iowa coach Gayle Blevins said. “We were fortunate enough to do that. Our short game was really working well today and we were able to take advantage.”

Maine’s Dana Grimm was the only Black Bear to get to second base. She singled in the fifth and was allowed to go to second when third baseman Ruff caught a foul ball in the Maine dugout.

“I think we did a fairly decent job of getting the bat on the ball,” Cheney said. “You can’t ask much more than to make contact and we started making contact a little better today.”

Bennis (10-11) took the loss for Maine. She walked two, struck out one and scattered seven hits. One of Iowa’s runs was unearned.

HAWKEYES 2, BLACK BEARS 0

Iowa (39-23) Maine (28-23)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Johnson, rf 4 0 1 0 Brady, cf 1 0 0

Hentgea, lf 2 0 0 0 Dulkis, 3b 3 0 0

Heidgerken, ph 1 0 0 0 Cheney, ss 3 0

May, ss 2 0 0 1 McKinney, rf 3 0 0

Murray, dp/3b 3 0 1 0 Kuhl, dp 3 0

Birocci, p 2 0 1 0 Taylor, 1b 2 0 0

Spratt, pr 0 0 0 0 Grimm, lf 2 0 0

Thomson, 1b 1 0 0 0 Tibbetts, c 3 0 0

Baugh, c 3 0 1 0 Asadoorian, 2b 2 0 0

Gerlick 2b 3 0 1 0 Folte, ph 1 0 0

Chipman, cf 2 1 2 0

Ruff, 3b 0 1 0 0

Totals 23 2 7 1 Totals 23 0 3 0

Iowa 011 000 0 ? 2

Maine 000 000 0 ? 0

E?Dulkis (6); LOB?Iowa 6; Maine 6; 2B?Murray (12); S?Hentgea (15), May (5), Thomson 2 (4); SB?Chipman (9)

Iowa IP H R ER BB SO

Birocci (22-13) 7 3 0 0 3 10

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Bennis (10-11) 7 7 2 1 2 1

HBP?Grimm by Birocci; WP?Bennis (18); T?1:45.