NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass.  –  Graduate student Hannah Shields (Buckfield, Maine) was 5-for-6 at the plate with two runs scored and three RBI as the University of Southern Maine Huskies combined for 23 hits over two games to sweep the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs, 4-1 and 6-3, in a Little East Conference doubleheader Saturday afternoon.
 
Senior Belle Snyder (Epping, N.H.) earned the win in the circle in the opener, going 6.1 innings and holding the Corsairs to three singles.  Sophomore Lexus McIntosh (Lancaster, N.H./White Mountain Regional), the game two winner, picked up the save entering in the bottom of the seventh and getting a pair of strikeouts. 
 
 
Series Record:
Today's doubleheader marked the 79^th and 80^th meeting between the Huskies and the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs.  The Huskies lead the overall series 49-30-1.  The Huskies and Corsairs split the 2023 regular season doubleheader with UMass Dartmouth taking game one 6-5, and the Huskies earning a 4-0 win in game two on April 15, 2023.  The Corsairs defeated the Huskies 5-4 in the LEC playoffs.
 
Records:
GM 1 – Southern Maine 4, UMass Dartmouth 1
Southern Maine (20-9, 6-5 Little East)                020  100  1    4-6-3
UMass Dartmouth (22-9, 8-3 Little East)             100  000  0    1-3-0
 
Game 1 - Pitching Record:
WP:  Belle Snyder (7-3), 6.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K
LP:   Kaitlyn Shirshac (14-7), 7.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 7 K
SV:  Lexus McIntosh (2), 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
 
 
GM 2 – Southern Maine 6, UMass Dartmouth 3
Southern Maine (21-9, 7-5 Little East)                201  120  0    6-17-2
UMass Dartmouth (22-10, 8-4 Little East)           010  010  1    3-7-2
 
Game 2 - Pitching Record:
WP:  Lexus McIntosh (11-4), 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 7 K
LP:   Rahne Turley (8-3), 4.0 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
 
How It Happened: Game One –Southern Maine 4, UMass Dartmouth 1

• UMass Dartmouth took the early lead on an RBI single up the middle from Hailey Lyons in the bottom of the first; however, the Huskies bounced back in the top of the second with two runs to take a 2-1 lead.
• Shields led the Husky rally with a one-out single, and moved up to third on a walk and a wild pitch. Senior Makena Mulcahy (Auburn, Mass.) drove in both runs for Southern Maine singling through the right side to score Shields and sophomore Olivia Levasseur (Amesbury, Mass) – who drew the walk.
• UMass Dartmouth threatened for run in the bottom of the third with runners on second and third with one out, but the Huskies' defense game through for Snyder cutting down the lead runner at home on an attempted sacrifice bunt.  Levasseur fielded the ball cleanly at third and connected with sophomore Mackenzie Renner (Alton, N.H./Prospect Mountain). With two outs, Snyder got the final out on a fly ball to right.
• Junior Meaghan Dufresne (Mattapoisett, Mass./Old Rochester Regional0 gave the Huskies a 3-1 cushion in the top of the fourth. Shields led off the inning with a walk and moved into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, before Dufresne connected on a single to right for the RBI.
• Snyder worked around a fielding error in the bottom of the fourth, and then retired the Corsairs in order in the fifth and sixth inning to keep USM up 3-1.  In the top of the seventh, Mulcahy led off with a double to the gap in left.  Three batters later, junior Abby Miner (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) made it a 4-1 game with a hard hit lsingle through the right side for an RBI scoring Mulcahy.
• In the bottom of seven, Snyder struck out the first batter she faced before yielding a single and a walk. With two on and one out, McIntosh entered and went for back-to-back strikeouts to earn the save.

 
How It Happened: Game Two – Southern Maine 6, UMass Dartmouth 3

• Going 4-for-4 in game two, Shields gave USM an early 2-0 run in the top of the first on a two-run single into center. With one out, Miner and senior Madi Day (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) hit a single and a double, respectively. After another out, Shields connected on the two-out hit.
• UMD made it a 2-1 game in the bottom of the second using two walks, a single and an error.  Olivia Silva had the RBI single in the inning, and finished the game 2-for-3.
• Shields returned the Huskies to a two-run lead with an RBI single through the left side in the top of the third. In the top of the fourth, Snyder led off the inning with a double and scored on a throwing error to make it 4-1. 
• The Huskies scored twice in the top of the fifth to lead 6-1.  Dufresne led off with a double before the next two Huskeis went down on a strikeout and ground out.  Sndyer singled to shortstop and then stole second to make it runners on second and third before Miner came up big again with a two-run single up the middle. 
• Lyons made it 6-2 with an RBI single for UMD in the fifth.  The Corsairs loaded the bases against McIntosh with two outs, but the Husky sophomore was picked up by another strong defensive play from Levasseur to end the inning.
• After a quiet sixth and top of the seventh, the Corsairs led off the bottom of seventh with a double from Dyonna Rodas. Rodas came around to score moving up to third on a ground out before an RBI single up the middle from Lyons, but McIntosh bounced back with fielder's choice ground out and a strikeout to end the game.

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Up Next:
Southern Maine returns home on Sunday (11:00 am) and will take on Colby College in a non-conference doubleheader. 
 
 
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