At Kessock Field in Orono on Saturday afternoon, the Albany Great Danes spoiled Senior Day for the Maine Black Bears by taking ends of a doubleheader by scores of 8-3 and 2-0 in eight innings in America East softball action.
In game one, the teams swapped one run in the first inning before Albany would pull away on an RBI single by Madison Petrella and an inside the park grand slam homerun by Chloe Lewis that made it 6-1 Great Danes in the fourth. Jasmine Gray and Keely Clark each had two hits for Maine, while Lilly Volk (0-3) took the pitching loss allowing six runs on five hits in 3.2 innings.
Albany finished off the weekend three game sweep by scoring on an error and on a bunt single in the eighth inning to take the two run win. Brianna Neely had two hits for the Black Bears, and Kyleigh O’Donnell (9-8) was the tough luck loser in the circle allowing just one earned run on four hits in 8.0 innings. Maine does not qualify within the top four teams for the America East playoffs, finishing their season at 11-22 and 7-11 in America East with seven straight losses and were shutout in six of those. Albany improves to 22-17, 12-6 in AE currently second in the standings.
At Mahaney Diamond in Orono, the Maine baseball team split in America East action with UMass-Lowell. The Black Bears took the first one in dramatic fashion 3-2, before falling in the second game 6-4.
In game one (seven innings)- The visiting Riverhawks got a sacrifice fly in the second inning and another run in the fourth on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead. The Black Bears would then load the bases in their last at bat in the bottom of the seventh, and would cut it to one when Colin Plante walked with two outs. Jeff Mejia came through as the hero when he slapped a two-run walk off single to right field scoring Jake Rainess and Quinn McDaniel to win it. Mejia had two hits to lead the way. Nicholas Sinacola (8-1) won again on the mound allowing two runs on six hits with 11 strikeouts in 7.0 innings. The junior right hander has hit the 10 or more strikeout mark in all nine of his starts, and also becomes just the second Maine pitcher to ever strike out 100 batters in a season. He now also owns the strikeout record for most K’s in a season in America East.
In the second game (nine innings)- UMass-Lowell again took a 2-0 lead early on, before Maine tied it in the third on a Mejia RBI groundout and a Scout Knotts RBI triple down the line in right. Sean Lawlor put the hosts up 4-2 in the fifth with a two out, two-run triple in the fifth. The Riverhawks though put up four of their own in the seventh highlighted by a two-run single by Keagan Calero to take the win. Mejia, Knotts, and Connor Goodman all had two hits each in the Black Bears loss. Noah Lewis (2-4) took the pitching defeat allowing five runs on seven hits over 6+ innings. Maine is now 16-15, 11-12 in America East. UML goes to 13-24, 12-16 in AE. The teams finish up their four game series with a doubleheader beginning at noon on Sunday.
