BOSTON  –  Sophomore Lexus McIntosh (Lancaster, N.H./White Mountains Regional) fired a seven-inning shutout, and freshman Maddy Paradis (Salem, N.H.) drove in three runs to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 7-0 win over the Rhode Island College Anchormen in the first game of the 2024 Little East Conference Softball Tournament Championship Wednesday afternoon at UMass Boston.
 
The fifth-seeded Huskies pounded out 10 hits to defeat the fourth-seed Rhode Island College Anchormen, while McIntosh held the Little East Conference's top-hitting team by batting average to just two hits (both singles) in seven-innings of work, and did not yield a walk.
 
Series Record:
Today's game marked the 75^th meeting between the University of Southern Maine and Rhode Island College.  RIC leads the overall series 43-31, and had won the last five over the Huskies. The Anchormen defeated Southern Maine 11-0 (5 inn) and 3-2 in the 2024 regular season series. Today's win is the first for Southern Maine over RIC since April 5, 2022 (8-0, 5 innings).
 
Records:
GM 1 – Southern Maine, Rhode Island College
No. 5 Southern Maine (26-11)                000 102 4  7-10-2
No. 4 Rhode Island College (28-11)        000 000 0  0-2-2           
 
Game 1 - Pitching Record:
WP:  Lexus McIntosh (14-5) 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
LP:   Abby Kidd (16-5), 5.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
 
How It Happened: Southern Maine 7, Rhode Island College 0

• Scoreless through the third as McIntosh retired the first six batters she faces in order, and worked her way around a fielding error and an infield single in the bottom of the third. RIC starter Abby Kidd was equally as dominant in the first three innings despite giving up a single and a double by picking up five of her game-high eight strikeouts.
• USM broke through in the top of the fourth to take the lead.  Senior Madi Day (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) led off the inning with a single that dropped into left field, and moved up to third on a bunt attempt and a dropped third strike to put herself in scoring position with two outs.  Senior Makena Mulcahy (Auburn, Mass.) came through for the Huskies with a two-out single to the gap in right to score day.
• Clinging to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth after McIntosh fired a one-two-three inning in the fourth, the Huskies were able to get out of a jam to maintain the lead.  RIC's lead off hitter reached on a fielding error and the Anchormen had runners on first and third with one out following an infield single to shortstop from Sophia Crudale.  After Crudale stole second to put two Anchormen in scoring position, Husky catcher senior Meaghan Dufresne (Mattapoisett, Mass.) and sophomore 3B Olivia Levasseur (Amesbury, Mass.) combined to cut down the lead runner on an attempted squeeze play to save a run and get to two outs. With two down, McIntosh retired the side with a line-out to center field.
• The Huskies added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the sixth. Senior Rona Scott (Beverly, Mass.) started the inning for the Huskies with a one-out double to center field, and USM had two runners on following an RIC fielding error.  RIC got the second out of the inning on a foul out to right field, but USM responded with back-to-back two-out singles from Paradis and Levasseur for back-to-back RBI and a 3-0 lead.
• RIC went down in order in the bottom of the sixth as McIntosh continued to dominate with a ground out and two fly outs to right field. 
• Scoring four runs in the top of the seventh, the Huskies shut the door on the game.  Junior Abby Miner (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) led off the inning with a walk, and Day double to left field for runners at third and second.  With one out, Scott loaded the bases with a walk, before USM scored its first run of the inning on a passed ball for a 4-0 advantage.  RIC got the second out on a strikeout, but an RBI infield single legged out by Dufresne on the next play made it 5-0, scoring Day, before Paradis cleared the bases with a two-out, two-run double to the gap in left for a 7-0 USM lead.
• McIntosh closed the game getting the Anchormen down in order to pick up her 14^th win of the season.

 
 
Up Next:
Southern Maine advances to face UMass Boston on Thursday (1:00 pm) in game four of the 2024 Little East Conference Championship Tournament. Rhode Island College will face the non-advancing team on Thursday (11:00 am) from the No. 3 Eastern Connecticut vs. No. 6 VTSU-Castleton game which will take place on Thursday at 9 am. 
 
 
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