BOSTON  –   Junior Kendall Migliorini (Salem, NH) nailed a two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning to snap a 1-1 game and help lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 4-2 win over the UMass Boston Beacons in the second game of a Little East Conference doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at the UMB Softball Field. 

Freshman Mia Coots (Hartland, Maine/Nokomis) won the game in the circle pitching the full eight innings, allowing just two runs on seven hits and three walks. She picked up five strikeouts.  The Huskies dropped game one 6-3.
 
Records:
GM 1 – Southern Maine UMass Boston
Southern Maine (17-16, 7-4 LEC)                                                      010 000 2    3-5-2
UMass Boston (27-7-1, 8-4-1 LEC)                                                    100 104 x    6-8-2
 
 
 
GM 2 – Southern Maine UMass Boston
Southern Maine (18-16, 8-3 LEC)                                                      001 000 03    4-7-1
UMass Boston (27-8-1, 8-5-1)                                                            001 000 01    2-7-4
 
Pitching Records:
GM 1 – Southern Maine vs. UMB
WP: UMB, Bri Melchionda (7-2), 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K
LP:  SM, Lexus McIntosh (7-9), 5.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
 
 
GM 2 – Southern Maine vs. UMB
WP: SM, Mia Coots (11-7), 8.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
LP:  UMB, Jacqueline Cherry (11-4), 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
 
 
How It Happened: Game One – UMB 6, Southern Maine 3

• With the game tied at 1-1 after three innings, the Beacons took the lead 2-1 in the fourth. Mary Matthews hit a one-out triple to put herself in scoring position and Amauri English took advantage with an RBI ground out.
• The Huskies, after collecting three hits and a run in the top of the second, did not have another hit through the top of the sixth, and did not advance a runner beyond second base to remain behind 2-1.  UMB hurler Bri Melchondia had four of her nine strikeouts in the game during that stretch.
• Holding to a 2-1 lead, UMB scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to open up a 6-1 lead.  Lauren Miner doubled to start the Beacons rally. Husky starter Lexus McIntosh (Lancaster, NH/White Mountains Regional) was able to keep Miner at third getting the next two batters on ground outs before Izzy Levasseur singled to center to make it 3-1. The Beacons' bats came alive after the run, connecting on three singles around a walk to score three more runs, including a two-RBI single from Haley Tilberry. 
• The Huskies rallied for a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to make it a 6-3 game.  After the lead off hitter reached on an error and moved up a base to second, freshman Emma Ingalls (Newport News, Va.) drew a pinch-hit walk.  Junior Ella Bezanson (Amesbury, Mass.) scored USM's first run with an RBI double.  The Huskies final run came as freshman Madison Brown (Westbrook, Maine) scored as a pinch-runner on the Beacons' second error of the game.

 
Game Two – Southern Maine 4,  UMB 2 – 8 Innings

• Locked in a pitcher's duel, Southern Maine scored first in the top of the third as Bezanson cranked a double to left field and then scored on an error for a 1-0 Husky lead.  The Beacons came right back in the bottom of the inning to tie the game up however, as Haley Krockta connected on an RBI single to left.
• The Huskies threatened for a go-ahead run in the top of the fifth as freshman Gwen Christie (Barnstead, NH/Prospect Mountain) led off the inning with a single down the left field line and then moved up to third on a throwing error. However, the Beacons were able to get out of the inning with solid defense keeping the game at 1-1.
• Coots was outstanding in the late innnigs. After giving up a one-out single in the bottom of the fifth, the Husky freshman retired eight straight Beacons through the bottom of the seventh to send the game to extra innings.
• In the eighth, UMB's Jacqueline Cherry got the first Husky batter on a strikeout before sophomore Finley Folkett (Morden, Manitoba) earned an infield single to shortstop to get a runner aboard.  With one away, Migliorini hit her fourth career home run for two RBI and a 3-1 Husky lead.  Cherry got the second out, but USM senior Meaghan Dufresne (Mattapoisett, Mass./Old Rochester Regional) singled to center, and then moved to second on a walk drawn from junior Mackenzie Renner (Alton, NH/Prospect Mountain).  Junior Olvia Levasseur (Amesbury, Mass.) then made it 4-1 scoring Dufresne with an RBI single up the middle before the inning ended.
• Facing a three-run deficit, the Beacons first two batters, Melchionda and Krockta reached with back-to-back singles off of Coots. USM got Melchionda out on a fielder's choice play at third, but UMB loaded the bases on the next play with another fielder's choice. With one away, English was able to send a ball to the outfield for the RBI before Coots ended the game with a strikeout for the 4-2 win.  

 
Up Next:
 Southern Maine hosts UMass Dartmouth in a Little East Conference doubleheader on Thursday (2:00/4:00 pm), and then closes out its regular season at home against WestConn in LEC play.  The Huskies will host the Wolves on Saturday, May 3 (12:00/2:00 pm) at the USM Softball Stadium.  The Huskies will celebrate Senior Day during the doubleheader.  
 
 
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