GORHAM, Maine   – Junior Kristen Finn (Winthrop, Mass.) fired a two-hit gem to earn a 6-0 shutout in the second game of a doubleheader to lead the Bates College Bobcats to a sweep of the University of Southern Maine Huskies in non-conference softball match up Thursday afternoon at Towers Field in Gorham, Maine. 

            With the pair of wins, the Bobcats improve to 7-9 on the season and snap a four-game losing skid.  The Huskies fall to 3-29 suffering their fifth straight loss.

            Finn pitched an outstanding game for the Bobcats striking out five batters without yielding a walk in the win.  Finn had a perfect-game no-hitter through two outs of the fifth inning and had retired 14 straight hitters before allowing a single.  Both of the hits Finn allowed were singles. 

            With Finn in control of the Huskies' bats, the Bobcats took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning.  The Bobcats used four hits in the second inning, including an RBI double from junior C Leah Maciejewski (Tewksbury, Mass./Bishop Guertin).  The next two Bates' runs were plated on an RBI ground out by freshman 2B Alayna Garbarino (Reading, Mass./Phillips Andover) and an RBI single from junior OF Courtney Talcott (Sutton, Mass./Worcester Academy).

            The Bobcats added a pair of runs in the fourth inning and one in the fifth for the 6-0 win.  USM freshman P Samantha Morse (South China, Maine/Erskine Academy) took the loss allowing five earned runs on nine hits and two walks.  Morse struck out five.

            In the opener, Bates rallied from a one-run deficit in the top of the seventh and grabbed the win in an extra inning.  Trailing 4-3 after a solo homerun from USM senior P/1B Sarah Deroche (Portland, Maine/Deering) in the bottom of the sixth inning, Bates' Maciejewski blasted a two-out RBI double to right field to force the extra inning.  Maciejewski drove in Finn from first base who was pinch running for junior 1B Monica Berube (Plaistow, N.H./Brooks School).  Berube started the rally with a two-out blooper of an infield single. 

            After holding the Huskies scoreless in the bottom of the inning, Bates plated the winning run in the top of the eighth.  With the extra inning rule in effect and a runner on second, Bates advanced its runner with a sacrifice bunt before sophomore 3B Mary Lewis (Gardiner, Maine/St. Dominic) singled in a run.

            Junior Caroline Gattuso (North Reading, Mass./Phillips Andover) closed out the win in the bottom of the eighth.  After the Huskies' advanced their runner to third with a sacrifice bunt, Gattuso was aided by a heads up play from Lewis at third base to gun down the USM runner headed home on a sharply hit infield grounder.  With two outs, Gattuso got the final USM batter out on a pop up.

            Gattuso, who was in the hole early 3-0 on three unearned runs in the bottom of the first, allowed one earned run on six hits and one walk.  She struck out eight over eight innings.  Deroche, USM's starter, allowed three earned runs on nine hits and three walks.  Morse, who came in for Deroche in the seventh, was tagged with the loss giving up one earned run on four hits in two innings.

Southern Maine hosts Keene State College on Friday (3:00 p.m.).  Bates hosts Bowdoin College on Friday (4 p.m.).