Box Score Orono, Maine – The UMBC Softball team began the final series of the regular season with an 11-0, five-inning defeat at Maine on Friday afternoon.
Maine (24-18, 11-4) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first, thanks to two UMBC (23-28, 4-10) errors, added another five unearned runs in the second, and two in each the fourth and fifth. The Retrievers were held to just two hits in the game and committed four errors.
The Black Bears led 9-0 in the fourth when senior Bridget O'Malley (Baltimore, Md./Seton Keough) walked with one out, and then moved to second on a single by Kaelin Jackson (Export, Pa/Franklin Regional). Senior second baseman Danielle O'Neill (Lothian, Md./Southern) worked a two-out walk to load the bases, but the Retrievers could not capitalize and stranded all three runners.
O'Malley's walk, the 107th walk of her career, to add to her program record for career walks. The shortstop also moved into a tie with assistant coach Julia Culotta for career games started, with 205.
Jessica Holte (Ashland, Va./Atlee) lasted only 2.1 innings in the loss, falling to 12-12 on the year. The lefty gave up nine hits and nine runs, but only two of the runs were earned. Nicole Casagrand (Melbourne, Fla./Hatboro-Horsham) pitched 1.2 innings of relief, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits.
Morgan Peyou (Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island) went 0-2 to snap her seven-game hitting streak.
The Retrievers close out the series with Maine with a doubleheader tomorrow beginning at 11 a.m. Games will be live-streamed on AmericaEast.TV and a live audio stream is also available.
