GORHAM, Maine – Senior
Olivia Levasseur (Amesbury, Mass.) had two RBI, and senior
Kristina Yebba (Danvers, Mass.) added one of her own to help the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 3-2 win over the VTSU-Castleton Spartans in game two of a Little East Conference doubleheader Saturday afternoon at the USM Softball Stadium. Levasseur was 2-for-2 at the plate in game two.
Sophomore
Mia Coots (Hartland, Maine/Nokomis) earned the win in the circle for Southern Maine, scattering six hits over seven innings. Allowing two earned runs, Coots did not yield a walk in her 11
th win of the season, and had three strikeouts.
Southern Maine fell in the opener, 4-1, to the Spartans. Senior
Kendall Migliorini (Salem, NH) connected on a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth. The home run marked Migliorini's sixth of her career.
Records:
GM 1 – VTSU-Castleton 4, Southern Maine 1
VTSU-Castleton (20-8, 11-2 Little East 011 110 0 4-9-0
Southern Maine (19-11, 3-8 Little East) 000 010 0 1-4-1
GM 1 – VTSU-Castleton 4, Southern Maine 1
VTSU-Castleton (20-9, 11-3 Little East) 000 002 0 2-6-2
Southern Maine (20-11, 4-8 Little East) 003 000 x 3-8-1
Pitching Records:
GM 1 – Southern Maine vs VTSU-Castleton
WP: CU, Madison Gould (11-2), 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 12 Ks, 1 HR
LP: SM,
Mackenzie Kingsbury (4-2), 3.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 Ks
GM 2 – Southern Maine vs VTSU-Castleton
WP: SM,
Mia Coots (11-6), 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 Ks
LP: CU, Alex Brouillette (7-4), 4.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 Ks
How It Happened: Game One
- Castleton's Madison Gould had 12 strikeouts and limited the Huskies to four hits to earn the game one win.
- Southern Maine recorded a pair of runners in the bottom of the first as sophomore Aislin Davis (Tewksbury, Mass.) and freshman Emily Wheeler (Old Town, Maine) converted at the top of the order for the Huskies. Davis drew a lead off walk and Wheeler connected on a single. Both moved up a base on a successful sacrifice play from senior Ella Bezanson (Amesbury, Mass.), but Gould answered with back-to-back outs.
- Jordan Hill gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead in the top of the second with an RBI single up the middle, and Gould struck out the side in the bottom of the innings to get the game rolling. VTSU-Castleton led 2-0 tallying an unearned run in the top of the third, and then took a 3-0 lead on an RBI double to the gap in right from Maddy Dudley in the fourth.
- After a 1-2-3 inning from the Huskies in the bottom of the fourth, the Spartans added to their lead making it 4-0 on a fielder's choice RBI from Hill.
- Migliorini broke up the shutout in the bottom of the fifth lacing a home run over the left field fence for a 4-1 game. Davis kept the inning going with a two-out single to left field, but that was it for USM in fifth.
- Yebba had a two-out single into left in the sixth, and after a quiet seventh from the Spartans, Gould closed the door on the game getting three straight strikeouts for the win.
- Davis, Wheeler, Yebba and Migliorini accounted for the Huskies' four hits.
Game Two
- After a scoreless two and a half innings, Southern Maine jumped ahead 3-0 in the bottom of the third. Sophomore Gwen Christie (Barnstead, NH/Prospect Mountain) led off the inning with a walk, and after an error and a single from Wheeler loaded the bases, Yebba drove in USM's first run with a sacrifice fly to right field for a 1-0 lead. Getting the second out of the inning via strikeout, VTSU-Castleton game-two starter Alex Brouillette gave up a two-run single to Levasseur for a 3-0 Husky lead. All three of the Huskies' run in the inning were unearned.
- With a 3-0 lead, Coots retired the next six Spartan batter in order through the fourth and fifth innings. The Huskies' threatened for additional runs in the bottom of the fifth with runners on second and third with one out, but Gould stepped in for Brouillette in relief and got the final two outs to keep the game at 3-0.
- The Spartans made it a one-run game in the top of the sixth, scoring two runs on four hits (all singles. Gould and Makayla Walsh each had RBI singles in the inning. Down 3-2, the Spartans had the bases loaded with just one out against them; however, Levasseur cut down the lead runner at home on a force play for the second out, and Coots forced a pop-up to end the inning still ahead.
- Davis and Wheeler each singled with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, but USM was unable to punch in an insurance run sending the game to the top of the seventh up 3-2. Coots protected the lead and earned the win getting back-to-back ground outs to Levasseur, and a fly out to end the game.
- Davis and Wheeler were both 2-for-4 in game two with a run scored.
Up Next:
Southern Maine remains in Little East Conference action and hosts Rhode Island College on Tuesday (4:00 pm), and then travels to Bowdoin College on Thursday (4:00 pm) for non-conference doubleheader. The Huskies close their regular season on the road at WestConn for a pair of LEC games on Saturday, May 2 (12:00 pm).
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