BANGOR- The Husson softball team stretched their winning streak to 16 games and stayed unbeaten in the North Atlantic Conference on Saturday afternoon, sweeping past Thomas College in a doubleheader with duplicate 5-0 scores at O’Keefe Field.
Game 1- McKenna Smith was the story once again. The right hander celebrated Senior Day with 16 strikeouts in the circle going the complete game 7.0 innings while walking one and allowing five hits. She struckout the side in the first three innings. The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fifth. Husson got all they needed when Katie Raymond looped one down the left field line with the bases loaded for an RBI. Olivia McCarty then walked with the bags still full, and Kenzie Dore hit a two-run single to left center field. Raymond and Dore had two hits each, while Smith also helped her cause with a pair of hits. She improves her pitching record to 13-4. Maddie Rock had two hits for Thomas College, and Kelsey Currier (6-5) took the loss in the circle allowing four earned runs on seven hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in 6.0 innings. The Terriers lost for the first time in conference in the defeat, and had their seven game win streak snapped. Smith now owns an earned run average of 1.00, with five shutouts, 174 strikeouts, and has only allowed 17 earned runs in 119 innings pitched. Opposing batters are only hitting .185 off Smith.
Game 2- Another big inning sparked Husson to the sweep. With the score 0-0 in the fourth, the Eagles scored all five of their runs in the fourth frame. Emily Dunbar singled in a run, Raymond had an RBI groundout, Dore knocked in two with a single up the middle, and they got the last run on a Thomas fielding error. No Husson batter had more than one hit, and freshman Danielle Masterson (Hampden Academy) improved her record to 4-3 by spinning a complete game five hitter with no walks and 10 strikeouts. Megan Oberholzer (4-3) lost in the circle for Thomas allowing five runs on seven hits with five walks and four strikeouts in 6.0 innings. Currier had two hits, as the Terriers record drops to 11-10 and 4-2 in the North Atlantic Conference.
Husson improves to 22-10 and 9-0 in the NAC and will host a non-conference doubleheader against Bowdoin College beginning at noon on Sunday. The Eagles honored the following seniors on Saturday: Katie Raymond, Teagan Blackie, Jill Bisson, and McKenna Smith.
Recap/Photos by Chris Lessner
