Game 1 Statistics
Game 2 Statistics
Highlights
Photos
BIDDEFORD, Maine -- After hanging on for a narrow win in the opener, the University of New England racked up a season-best run total to separate from Curry College and notch a 2-1, 11-3 (5 innings) doubleheader sweep in Conference of New England (CNE) softball action at Nor'easter Diamond on Saturday (Apr. 11).
Winners of five in the last six, the Nor'easters (12-9, 6-5 CNE) did it two very different ways against the Colonels (8-15, 2-7). The initial contest only included four hits for the hosts, which was the fewest in a victory since 2019. UNE then turned around for 13 hits in the next one to help the squad surpass its overall win total from a year ago and match 2023 and 2024.
Delaney Whitten only played in game two, but shared the day's high of three hits with just one other. She also generated five runs batted in, which is the most in an outing by a Nor'easter this season.
Emma Michaud and
Zofia Twarog kept their hitting streaks alive with one in each game; in 21 dates, Michaud now has her second 10-game run of the season, while Twarog is up to nine straight.
Kyleigh Matola also had two hits on the afternoon. Michaud and
Hannah Irons accounted for seven runs scored on the blue side.
Renee Gonneville supplied three hits during the twinbill for Curry, and Skylar Colburn added a couple.
A leadoff walk by Irons, a double from Michaud, a sacrifice, and a wild pitch gave the Nor'easters a two-run cushion in the bottom of the 1st inning of
GAME 1 (UNE 2-0). Twarog had the only other extra-base hit (double) of the contest later in the frame, but the hosts could not added to the lead.
All of Curry's 10 hits were singles, and the first three filled the bases with one away in the 2nd. UNE turned a grounder to Twarog at third into a force at home on the ensuing play, and then
Elise Connor chased down a fly ball in the right-center gap to get out of the inning. In the 3rd, a heady play by Irons with a runner at second and no outs wiped a potential scoring runner off of the board.
The Colonels got their lone (unearned) run in the 5th with a couple of singles and a failed pickoff attempt error. In the top of the 7th, with the leadoff batter aboard,
Hannah Lappin fielded an almost-catch in center and was able to get the force play at second base. Down to their final out, the visitors had two on for Izzy Henderson, and, after working the longest at-bat of the entire day (12 pitches), a drive to deep left field hit a gust of wind before dropping into the glove of
Adrianna Carsetti to seal it.
Kara MacDonald improved to 4-3 with the complete-game win, and stranded 10 Colonels along the way.
If the performance in
GAME 2 (UNE 11-3) by the hosts wasn't already impressive, factor in that Curry scored its three runs with three hits in the top of the 1st. Starting pitcher Kassidy Lobb made it 3-0 with the only extra-base knock of the day for the Colonels -- a slicing triple around a diving catch attempt in shallow right field.
But then UNE kicked things into a higher gear. Immediate pressure on the base paths contributed to two unearned runs in the 1st, and it was tied with another unearned in the 2nd. Carsetti singled and Whitten doubled to jumpstart the 3rd and take the lead (4-3), and a walk and infield single loaded the bases for
Fiona Casey, who delivered a two-run single for a 6-3 advantage.
Whitten caught the leadoff walk attempting to steal in the Curry 4th to thwart a potential bump, and then came through with a two-run single in the 4th to pad the Nor'easter cushion to 9-3.Â
Like UNE at the end of the 4th, the Colonels had a bases full with one away in the 5th, only to ground into a force at home, again, courtesy of a play by Twarog at third.
The hosts walked off the run-rule triumph with a trio of one-out connections -- a double by Michaud, single from Carsetti, and Whitten found the right-center gap with another double. Carsetti went 2-for-2 at the dish with three runs scored in the game.
Casey and Connor also registered a pair of hits to aid the UNE cause, and
Lizzie Brytowski struck out three for her second positive pitching decision in as many days.
