Game 1 Statistics
Game 2 Statistics

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The University of New England softball team secured a pair of Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) victories over Curry College on Saturday afternoon (Apr. 13) at Nor'easter Diamond, first pulling away to a 7-2 win in the opener of the doubleheader before surviving 11 innings to claim a 2-1 result in game two.

The second contest marked the longest UNE game in 22 years, since a 13-inning setback during the 2002 season. With the sweep, the Nor'easters (7-15, 3-3 CCC) have captured 13 of the last 14 meetings with the Colonels (10-14, 1-7).

Hannah Irons logged season-highs within the Nor'easter lineup of four hits and three runs scored in game one; in four at-bats, it was the 30th 4-for-4 performance by a player in the program over the last 28 years.

Over the course of the day, Emma Michaud and Becca Dumont both recorded three hits for UNE, and Emma Koenig had one per match. Michaud has reached base safely in every one of her appearances, now totaling 20 straight games.

The pitching from Mo Kinsella (7.1), Cat Higgins (5.2), and Kara MacDonald (5.0), and the defense behind them, combined to allow just one earned run in each contest, equaling the season-low by the staff.

Renee Gonneville led the Colonels during the twinbill with four hits, and Jordan Ferullo had two.

A Ferullo sacrifice fly put Curry in front, briefly, in the top of the 3rd inning of GAME 1 (UNE 7-2), only to see the hosts counter with two in the bottom of the frame. After a 14-pitch walk by Dumont, Irons tripled to right-center [Watch], and Michaud followed single through the left side [Watch].

Natalia O'Kleasky led off the 5th with a double for the visitors and scored on a two-out double by Ferullo to tie it up (2-2), but again, the Nor'easters had an immediate answer. Singles by Dumont, Irons, and Olivia Howe [Watch] amounted to give UNE the lead for good, before a two-out blast over the fence in left by Delaney Whitten upped the cushion to 6-2 [Watch]. It was the first home run by a UNE player this season.

A double from Irons and single by Michaud in the 6th added one more [Watch]. Michaud now has five multiple-RBI outings on the campaign.

Michaud and Howe connected for a double-play to erase a lead-off hit by Curry in the 7th [Watch] and all but seal it. Higgins improved to 2-0 through four appearances by working the final 2.2 innings in relief of Kinsella; the duo yielded five hits and two walks.

In the losing effort for the Colonels, Jillian Rogers fanned 12 batters from the circle.

In the top of the 1st inning of GAME 2 (UNE 2-1), a couple of singles and an eventual sacrifice fly provided Curry with another 1-0 edge. But that was all the visitors could push across, as a full team effort by UNE in the field held the Colonels scoreless over the next 10 frames. There was a threat for more with one gone and two in scoring position in the 2nd, however, a flyout to Hannah Lappin in left turned into an inning-ending double-play with Grace Tutt at third to get out of the jam [Watch].

MacDonald offered her best start of the season -- scattering four hits and three free passes over five innings -- including getting out of a bases-loaded situation in the 5th by inducing two popouts.

Higgins went the next three in the circle, during which the Nor'easters pulled even on the scoreboard (1-1) in the last half of the 6th. Michaud led off with a double down the left field line, moved to third on the first out, and eventually scored on a grounder to third and the throw across the diamond.

Both defenses stepped up in extra innings once the tiebreaker runner started being placed on second base. Curry's first look at regaining the lead in the 8th was erased by a diving grab from Elise Connor in the right-center gap [Watch]. UNE had the bases loaded with one away in the bottom of the stanza, but to no avail.

No ball left the infield in the entirety of the 9th. The Nor'easters needed another key stop in the 10th to reduced the pressure [Watch], though, met a similar fate in their turn at the plate. Kinsella, who faced nine batters in three innings, dealt a looking strikeout to finish off the 11th [Watch] and give the hosts yet another chance to walk-off with a win. And, after a sacrifice and popout, that's just what happened, as Tutt raced the final 60 feet on a passed ball to clinch the result [Watch].

It was the fourth positive decision for Kinsella. Dumont accounted for two of UNE's six hits at the dish.

Caitlyn Wood took the unfortunate setback for the Colonels, going the distance (10.2) and recording three strikeouts. Gonneville went 3-of-4 at the front of the Curry batting order; the rest added up to just two hits.

No rest for the weary, the Nor'easters head to the University of Hartford on Sunday and are slated to entertain Suffolk University back in Biddeford on Monday. The Hawks are the newest members of the CCC but are still in the process of reclassifying from Division I to Division III, and so the games does not count towards the 2024 league standings.