Game 1 Statistics
Game 2 Statistics
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BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Kara MacDonald held the University of Maine-Farmington off of the board for more than five innings in the opener, and Cat Higgins worked a perfect 4.2 innings of relief in the nightcap, as the University of New England softball team got back in the win column with a 6-1, 6-4 doubleheader sweep on Tuesday (Apr. 1) at Nor'easter Diamond.

The Nor'easters, who had three victories through their first five contests, now hold a 5-11 overall record heading into a Conference of New England twinbill at Nichols College on Saturday. The Beavers drop to 5-9 on the year.

Jadyn Kimball was one of four players with three hits on the day for UNE, but was the only one with multiple runs batted in (4). Hannah Irons and Emma Michaud combined to touch home plate seven times out of the team's 12 runs. 

An RBI-double by Irons in the bottom of the 3rd frame in GAME 1 (UNE 6-1) increased the lead for the hosts to 2-0, and, two batters later, Kimball singled to make the cushion three.

MacDonald got out of the top half of the 5th with a 4-0 lead, after winning the battle of the longest at-bat of the afternoon -- eight pitches -- with a looking strikeout. To that point, she had retired 15 out of the 18 batters faced.

Michaud singled and Kimball doubled -- for a second time -- to pad the margin in UNE's portion of the 5th, before the second singles of the match by Elise Connor and Emma Koenig helped Kimball come around to score.

A two-out RBI-single from Maddie Pike in the 6th was the only run UMF could muster off of MacDonald, who finished with five strikeouts against three hits and one walk in the complete game.

For the first time this season, the Nor'easters went an entire game without striking out once. Beavers starter Melissa Mayo took the loss.

UMF turned one double by Jessica Dow and three free passes into a couple of runs to open up GAME 2 (UNE 6-4), only to see the hosts respond with a pair to tie things in the bottom of the 1st inning. Like the opponents, UNE's lone hit in stanza was a Michaud double.

Christa Allen's single and second RBI gave the visitors an edge again in the 3rd (3-2), and, when Dow -- who reached with another hit -- later scored on the second out of the frame, the Beavers had restored their two-run advantage. However, that second out was the first batter faced by Higgins, who shut the door the rest of the way.

In the UNE 4th, a leadoff double by Delaney Whitten and single by Connor put the pressure on UMF and eventually led to getting one run back (4-3). Irons and Michaud went double-single to begin the 5th, and a sacrifice fly by Kimball knotted the score at 4-all. A two-out, two-strike wild pitch then allowed Michaud to scamper home with the go-ahead tally.

Nola Boutaugh tripled into the right field corner with one gone in the 6th, and Hannah Lappin followed with her second single to provide some insurance (6-4). Higgins didn't really need it, though, as the UMF 7th was the second-shortest of her four full innings (8 pitches). The graduate hurler tossed it 38 times to get the 14 outs and improved her personal ledger to 3-3.

Mack Bergen fanned five and yielded three earned runs from the circle for the Beavers in the loss.