GORHAM, Maine  - Sophomore Mia Coots (Hartland, Maine/Nokomis) had a career-high 12 strikeouts in a game-one win, and sophomore Taylor Takatsu (West Gardiner, Maine/Gardiner Area) finished her day at the plate 7-for-7 with eight RBI, setting a single-game record for hits in a game with five, and a single-game record for RBI in a game with eight in a game-two win as the University of Southern Maine Huskies defeated the Salem State University Vikings 2-1 and 24-3 (5 innings) in a non-conference softball doubleheader Wednesday evening at USM Softball Stadium.
 
Coots earned the 2-1 game-one win, scattering four hits and a walk over seven innings.  Coots' previous career-high of 10 strikeouts in a game was set during her rookie season in 2025.  The Huskies' sophomore now has 55 strikeouts in 60.2 innings pitched this season and 160 in her career. 
 
Takatsu was 5-for-5 in the Huskies' 24-3 game-two win as Southern Maine pounded out 20 hits off of the Vikings.  Takatsu had two doubles and three singles off of Salem State breaking the previous RBI record of seven held by Ashley Tinsman '21 set on April 13, 2021 against Saint Joseph's College.  Her five-hit performance bests 45 Huskies who had collected four hits in a game last accomplished by Madi Day '24 against University of New England on April 2, 2024.
 
Husky senior Olivia Levasseur (Amesbury, Mass.) collected her 100^th career hit during the doubleheader, driving in one of the Huskies' 14 first-inning runs in game-two with a single.  The Huskies' shortstop has 101 hits in her career.
 
Records:
GM 1 – Southern Maine 2, Salem State 1
Salem State (15-9)                                            000 000 1    1-4-1         
Southern Maine (12-6)                                       000 200 x    2-7-0
 
GM 2 –Southern Maine 24, Salem State 3 – 5 innings
Salem State (15-10)                                          1    20 00   3-4-2
Southern Maine (13-6)                                       (14)44 2x    24-20-0
 
 
Pitching Records:
GM 1 – Southern Maine vs Salem State    
WP: SM, Mia Coots (7-4), 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12 Ks
LP:   SS, Alanis Toledano (4-3), 5.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 3 Ks
 
GM 2 – Southern Maine vs Salem State   
WP: SM, Camdyn Johnson (5-2), 3.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 3Ks
LP:  SS, Sula Roberge (2-2), 3.0 IP, 17 H, 22 R, 20 ER, 9 BB, 0Ks
 
 
How It Happened: Game One

• Coots retired the first six batters she faced in order and had at least one strikeout in each inning to pace the Huskies to a 2-1 win in a pitching duel in game one. 
• After yielding her first hit of the game in the top of the third, a lead-off double to Paige Souza, Coots fired back with three straight outs, including back-to-back strikeouts to keep the game at 0-0.
•  In the fourth, Coots sat the Vikings in order, including picking up her sixth strikeout of the game. In the home half of the inning, Southern Maine generated all the offense it would need scoring two runs on two hits and a walk.  Southern Maine had two base-runners with one out as Takatsu led off with a walk, and sophomore Gwen Christie (Barnstead, NH/Prospect Mountain) reached safely on an error before sophomore Ava Cerrish (Limerick, Maine/Massabesic) came up big for the Huskies with a pinch-hit double to center field for two RBI. 
• With her team up 2-0, Coots continued to control the plate getting a pair of strikeouts and a fly-out to work around a single in the fifth. IN the sixth, Coots was dominant, getting back-to-back strikeouts before ending the inning with a grounder to short. 
• Southern Maine threatened for a third run in the bottom of the sixth as freshman Avery Moore (Dublin, NH) singled to left and moved up to third on a passed ball and a wild pitch, but Salem kept it 2-0 getting a ground out to short.
• Salem State rallied in the third collecting two of its four hits in the game, singles from Abigail LaClair and Giana Johnson, with one out.  Johnson's single to center scored LaClair making it a 2-1 game with just one out, but Coots bounced back with her 11^th and 12^th strikeout of the game to earn the win.

 
Game Two

• Trailing 1-0 after the top of the first, Southern Maine exploded for 14 runs in the bottom of the inning to seize control of the game early. Batting through their lineup twice, the Huskies had eight hits in the inning, and eight different players had an RBI.  Takatsu had three of her eight RBI in the opening frame, including a two-run single through the right side to make it 12-1. Sophomore Gwen Christie (Barnstead, NH/Prospect Mountain) had a two-run double to center to highlight the inning.
• Salem State scored twice in the top of the second on an RBI single through the left side from Abigail LaClair and an RBI sacrifice fly to left from Alanis Toledano, but it was the last runs the Vikings would score in the game, as Husky starter Camdyn Johnson (West Bath, Maine/Morse) worked her way to her fifth win of the season.
• In the bottom of the second, Southern Maine added four more runs. Takatsu had an RBI single to left, and senior Kristina Yebba (Danvers, Mass.) added an RBI single  to left as well.  Freshman Caitlyn Lemay (Derry, NH/Pinkerton Academy) and Christie also had RBI singles in the inning for an 18-3 lead.
• In the third, Takatsu added two more RBI to her tally with a two-run double to the gap in left.  Christie also had an RBI single in the inning as USM grew its lead to 22-3.
• Senior Mackenzie Kingsbury (Woodsville, NH) entered in relief of Johnson to start the top of the fourth and made quick work of the Vikings recording three consecutive strikeouts. Takatsu made it 24-3 in the bottom of the inning with her second two-run double of the game.
• Kingsbury closed out the game getting two ground outs and a strikeout for the final.

 
Up Next:
Southern Maine returns to Little East Conference action on Saturday, April 11 (1:00 pm) at UMass Dartmouth. The Huskies return home for a non-conference doubleheader with University of New England on Monday (4:00 pm).
 
 
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