The University of Maine softball team has played a very difficult non-conference schedule on their spring trip to begin the season. That trip is now close to ending, as the Black Bears come back East after two games in Lincoln, Nebraska on Tuesday.
Maine picked up their only win so far over Delaware in Newark, Delaware at the Blue Hen Invitational 5-4 back on March 1. The Black Bears just finished up a weekend at the Colorado State Invitational in Fort Collins, Colorado where they played five games. They fell 6-4 to Idaho State and 6-2 to the host Colorado State Rams on Saturday, was mercy ruled on Sunday in 9-1 and 17-1 defeats to Drake University and CSU, before dropping a finale on Monday morning to Idaho State 9-5.
The leading hitters so far have been Katie Jo Moery (.333), Krista Francia (.282), Anna Margetis (.268), and Kenedee Giddens (.261). Margetis leads in RBI with seven. The team is hitting just .208 with three homeruns collectively with 28 RBI in 16 games. The pitching staff has been a struggle with a team ERA of 10.07 allowing 154 hits and 141 runs (128 earned) in 89 innings.
Maine (1-15) will try to snap their seven game losing streak when they travel to Lincoln, Nebraska on Tuesday to take on the University of Northern Colorado at 3:30 p.m., followed by a contest against the host Nebraska Cornhuskers at 6. Once they leave Nebraska they will have a week off before heading to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts for a single game with ACC opponent Boston College on March 19. The America East schedule begins that same week at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) on Saturday, March 23 (doubleheader) and Sunday, March 24 (single game). The home openers at the UMaine Softball Complex in Orono are the following weekend on March 30 and March 31st in another conference battle against Albany (three game series).
Story by Chris Lessner
