Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 CLERMONT, Fla. – Freshman Erika Millett (Whitefield, N.H./White Mountains Regional) picked up her second consecutive win, firing a one-hit shut out to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to an 8-0 win over the Gordon College Fighting Scots as the Huskies split a pair of games in Clermont, Fla. Southern Maine dropped its second game of the day in a 2-1 battle against the Becker College Hawks.
With the split Southern Maine stands at 4-2 on the season and is off to its best start since the 2004 season when the Huskies were 5-1 through six games in Florida. Becker improved to 4-5 with its win over the Huskies, while Gordon dropped to 1-5 with the loss.
After allowing a lead off single to start the game, Millett spun a gem holding Gordon to just one hit and did not yield a walk in five innings as her team generated eight runs on eight hits to earn the five-inning victory.
Sophomores Amanda Hendrickson-Belloguet (Friendship, Maine/Medomak Valley) and Emily York each had two RBI to lead USM offensively. Senior Kristen Duross (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) and sophomore Samantha Crosman (South Berwick, Maine/Marshwood) each added an RBI.
The Huskies jumped on top of Gordon in the bottom of the first inning plating four runs on three hits and a passed ball. Duross drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single, before junior Mary Caron (Lewiston, Maine/St. Dominic's), who reached base safely with a single, crossed home plate on a passed ball. Ahead 2-0, Hendrickson-Belloguet cranked out her team-leading fifth double of the season to drive in a pair of runs for a 4-0 lead.
With a comfortable 4-0 lead in place, Millett was dominant retiring the Fighting Scots in order in the top of the third, fourth and fifth inning. Crosman made it 5-0 for USM in the bottom of the third with an RBI single, before the Huskies erupted for three runs in the bottom of the fifth, aided by a two-run single from York, for the 8-0 final.
In the second game, Becker College collected two runs in the bottom of the first and held off the Huskies over the next six innings to take the 2-1 win. Freshman Bailey Brait (Marshfield, Mass./Woodward School) drove in both of the Hawks' runs with a single to right field. The Hawks earned their base runners with a lead off single and a costly Huskies' fielding error.
USM took one run back in the top of the fifth on an RBI single from junior Jen Lynch (Portland, Maine/Deering), but was unable to plate the tying run in its final two at bats. The Huskies' threatened for runs in the bottom of the seventh after a lead off single from Kelly and a Hawks' fielding error gave USM runners on first and third with two outs, but Hawks' freshman Samantha Lee (Prospect, Conn./Woodland) was able to get the final out to preserve the win.
Lee earned the win holding USM to five hits. Lee did not allow a walk and struck out three. Kelly took the loss allowing two runs on four hits and two walks.
After a day off, Southern Maine resumes action on Sunday and will face MCLA and SUNY-Geneseo at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. respectively.
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