GORHAM, Maine – Senior Sarah Deroche (Portland, Maine/Deering) and freshman Samantha Morse (South China, Maine/Erskine Academy) each attained career-highs in strikeouts to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a doubleheader sweep of the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs in Little East Conference softball action Saturday afternoon at Towers Field in Gorham, Maine.

            With the pair of wins, Southern Maine concludes its 2011 season with a 6-32 record and a 4-10 mark in the Little East.  The Corsairs end their season with a record of 10-25 and 1-14 in the conference.

            Deroche struck out a career-high 10 batters in the first game en route to the 5-1 win.  Allowing just three hits over seven innings, Deroche did not yield more than a single, while walking five batters.

            Scoreless through three and a half innings, USM took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth, including an RBI ground out from sophomore DH Erin Swarbrick (Windham, N.H./Central Catholic). The Huskies added three more runs in the bottom of the fifth to lead the Corsairs 5-0. Senior C Melissa Caiazzo (Portland, Maine/Deering) had an RBI single in the inning, while Swarbrick drove in her second run of the game with a sacrifice fly to centerfield. 

            The Corsairs scored a run in the top of the seventh on an one-out RBI from junior P Brittany Eldridge (Raynham, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham), but Deroche closed the door as her defense turned a double play behind her for the win.

            In the second game, Morse spun a two-hit gem for the Huskies striking out 11 batters, establishing a new career-high.  Allowing just a pair of singles while walking four batters, Morse picked up her first career shutout victory. 

            While Morse buoyed the Huskies' defense in the second game, sophomore SS Anna Allard (Parsonfield, Maine/Sacopee Valley) sparked the USM offense.  Allard put the Huskies ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first blasting her first career homerun over the left field fence and then came around to score the Huskies second run of the game in the third inning on an RBI single from sophomore C Katie Davis (Woburn, Mass.) after reaching with a walk.

            In the fifth inning, Allard gave the Huskies a 3-0 cushion with an RBI single up the middle of the Corsair infield, while Davis accounted for the Huskies fourth and final run of the game with an RBI sacrifice fly to right field.

At Gorham, Maine

UMass Dartmouth (10-24, 1-13 LEC)    000  000  1  1-3-2

Southern Maine (5-32, 3-10 LEC)          000  230  x  5-8-1

Batteries: SM, Sarah Deroche and Melissa Caiazzo  MD, Brittany Eldridge and Diane Barry

WP: SM, Deroche (4-14)  LP: MD, Eldridge (8-18)

2B: SM, Kayla Ferrara

3B: None

HR: None

RBI: SM, Erin Swarbrick, Melissa Caiazzo MD, Eldridge

Repeat Hitters: SM, Caiazzo, Annie Mitchell 

UMass Dartmouth (10-25, 1-14 LEC)    000  000 0  0-2-1

Southern Maine (6-32, 4-10 LEC)        101   020 x  4-5-1

Batteries: SM, Samantha Morse and Katie Davis  MD, Eldridge and Barry

WP: SM, Morse (2-18)  LP: MD, Eldridge (8-19)

2B: None

3B: None

HR: SM, Anna Allard

RBI: SM, Allard 2, Davis 2

Repeat Hitters: SM, Allard