Game 1 Statistics
Game 2 Statistics
Senior Day Ceremony Photos & More
BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The University of New England softball team triumphed with scores of 5-1 and 8-0 (6 innings) in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) doubleheader against Gordon College on Saturday afternoon (May 6) at Nor'easter Diamond, plating 12 of those 13 runs during the 5th and 6th innings of the respective contests.
With the wins, the Nor'easters (11-23, 8-8 CCC) secure at least the No.6 seed in the upcoming tournament. UNE wraps the regular season at Roger Williams University (3-13) on Sunday with a chance to finish fourth in the standings. The Fighting Scots (18-22) settle in the No.8 spot with a 7-11 league record.
The hosts received solid pitching efforts from both
Kara MacDonald and
Mia Micucci, and
Abby Walsh led all players with four hits on the day.
Makenzy Herron also extended her hitting streak to nine outings.
Gordon did have the first lead of the afternoon, with one run in the top of the 3rd in
GAME 1 (UNE 5-1). A leadoff single from Emily Peterson scored when Ami Rivera sliced a one-out triple into the right field corner. The Nor'easters were able to keep it right there, though, as the ensuing grounder to
Abby Miner at first became a double-play with the tag applied by
Emma Koenig on Rivera at the plate.
UNE had just two baserunners against Scots pitcher Mara Little through four innings, but then the Nor'easters notched three unearned runs to move in front in the bottom of the 5th. One-out hits from Walsh,
Jamie DuPont, and
Becca Dumont all managed to touch home with the aid of a couple passed balls and an error.
Two more runs in the 6th padded the cushion, starting with a sacrifice fly from Koenig. Walsh registered an RBI-groundout to plate
Megan Chamberlain, who had the lone hit of the frame.
MacDonald yielded five hits and two walks while improving her personal mark to 6-7. Offensively, UNE had nothing but ones on any individual's stat line (hits, runs, RBI, walks, stolen bases).
Gabrielle Olsen connected for a game-high two hits for Gordon, including her second with two away in the 7th. Little allowed six hits and one walk over five innings in the setback.
Micucci supplied her most complete performance of the year in the circle for the Nor'easters in
GAME 2 (UNE 8-0), racking up a season-best six strikeouts while scattering just four hits without any free passes. Micucci only needed 75 pitches and had two counts in 22 batters run full with three balls.
Walsh (3-for-3, plus HBP) and Koenig (2-for-2) each drove in two runs to support the three RBI by
Grace Tutt (2 hits). Herron -- who scored three times -- and Miner also had two hits.
A two-out double by Rivera in the top of the 1st didn't amount to anything for the Fighting Scots, and then UNE stepped in front (1-0) in the last half of the frame with a two-out single by Tutt.
That gap held until the 5th, when five hits produced four runs for a 5-0 advantage. Herron (single) and
Jaiden McKenna (pinch runner after a double by Miner) both came around with another single by Tutt, before Koenig tripled to right-center and Walsh singled.
Lindsay Joyal singled in her first at-bat to begin the UNE 6th, and hits from Herron and Miner sent Joyal across with the sixth run. Another sac fly from Koenig allowed Herron to race home, and then Walsh provided the walk-off moment with a single off the glove of the leaping shortstop, giving just enough time for Miner to make it the final 60 feet.
Rivera had a team-high two hits for Gordon. Brooke Husson took the loss in the 3.1 innings of work.
