Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- First-year hurler Kelly Reid (Nantucket, Mass.) racked up nine strikeouts in the nightcap of Thursday's (Apr. 26) non-conference doubleheader at Claude Dubois Field with Bowdoin College, as the University of New England posted a 4-0 shutout to close out the regular-season with a split. The Polar Bears took the opener in five innings, 12-2.

The Nor'easters move to 22-11 with the results -- the victory was just the second in the last eight meetings between the teams. Bowdoin -- regionally-ranked in New England by the NCAA -- now stands at 26-11 on the year.

Reid scattered six hits and allowed zero walks in game two, as she upped her record to 12-4. Senior Ashley Gott (Winterport, Maine) went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the offense, while juniors Megan Gauger (South Paris, Maine) and Erin Grover (Biddeford, Maine) each contributed two hits in three trips to the dish.

The contest was scoreless through four frames before Big Blue -- which had stranded six runners to that point -- tacked three runs on the board. Gott led off the UNE 5th with a ground-rule double to left and eventually scored, and Grover drove in two more in the inning with a single to center to make it 3-0.

With two out in the top of the 6th, the Polar Bears threatened as senior Caroline Dewar (Katonah, N.Y.), junior Gen Barlow (Norwich, Conn.), and junior Toni DaCampo (Woburn, Mass.) all singled to load the bases. But Reid fanned the next Bowdoin batter to get out of the jam.

Gott singled home first-year Gabrielle LaRoche (Deerfield, N.H.) in the bottom of the inning to extend the lead to four, and Bowdoin went down, in order, batting in the 7th.

Barlow had a pair of hits for the Polar Bears, while first-year Nancy Walker (Alexandria, Va.) took the loss in the circle, striking out two over 4.1 innings.

The Bowdoin bats were relentless in game one, as the visitors tallied 15 hits in the five-inning triumph. Dewar became the Polar Bears' career leader in hits (159) on a 1st-inning single, and finished the outing 4-for-4 with three runs scored. Senior Hillary Smyth (Hollis, N.H.) and sophomore Casey Correa (Stamford, Conn.) each went 3-for-4, and senior Courtney Colantuno (Marblehead, Mass.) went 2-for-3 with four RBI.

Junior Tricia Thibodeau (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) gave up five hits and walked one while striking out a pair to get the win and go to 9-5 on the season.

Already ahead 1-0 entering the top of the 3rd, the Polar Bears began the inning with five straight hits. Barlow plated two runs with a bases-loaded single through the left side, and Correa knocked in her second of three runs in the game on a double down the right field line. Later, with two outs, Colantuno made the cushion 5-0 with an RBI-single.

UNE bounced right back with two in its 3rd to cut into the five-run deficit. First-year Adrienne Chase (Holden, Mass.) ripped a one-out double to the fence in left-center, and scored two batters later. Sophomore Amanda Vaudreuil (Windham, N.H.) moved the Nor'easters to within 5-2 on the next play, singling to right-center to bring in Gott from third. A two-out walk put two aboard, but Big Blue could not get any additional scoring.

Ten players saw time at the plate in the top of the 4th for Bowdoin, and five reached base before an out was recorded. It was 9-2 before Reid came in to relieve UNE senior starter Julie Bigelow (Montpelier, Vt.), and the ensuing first pitch to Colantuno ended up over the fence in left-center (3 RBI), increasing the gap to double digits.

Thibodeau limited the Nor'easters to just one base runner in the next two innings -- a lead-off triple to right-center in the bottom of the 5th by Big Blue sophomore Allie Frazier (Tewksbury, Mass.) -- and kept the margin at 10.

Vaudreuil had a pair of singles for UNE, which begins play in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship on Monday (2:30 p.m.) with a double elimination-round game against either Western New England University or Curry College (played at Endicott College). A full breakdown of the postseason tournament will come out on Friday.

The Polar Bears wrap up their NESCAC conference schedule with a three-game weekend series against Bates College. The Bobcats visit Bowdoin for a single game on Saturday (2 p.m.).


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