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Softball Downs Vermont Sunday in Dramatic Fashion
April 20, 2008
ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine softball team used a clutch RBI single from Kristen Calvetti in the bottom of the seventh inning to secure an exciting 4-3 victory over Vermont Sunday in the finale of the three-game series at Mike Kessock Field in Orono. The Black Bears took two out of three in the series and ran their record to 8-35 overall and 7-7 in America East. The Catamounts fell to 11-22 and 4-10 in the league. Vermont held a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning. That is when things started to turn and helped produce the late-game dramatics. Erin Iandoli got the rally started and knotted the game at 2-2 with one swing of the bat as she deposited a fastball over the wall in center field.
Maine starting pitcher Jenna Balent fed off the momentum of the blast and in the top of the sixth struck out a pair of batters to keep the Catamounts at bay. Maine looked like it was going to blow the game open in the sixth as the Black Bears loaded the bases with no one out. Vermont countered by bringing in Aimee Kern to pitch for the starter Alison Daggett. Stephanie George stepped to the plate for Maine and was immediately hit on the arm by a pitch which allowed her to take first base and force in pinch runner Melinda Corssino to put the Black Bears up 3-2. Corssino was pinch running for Calvetti who began the frame with an infield single. The bases were still loaded with no one out, but Kern settled down and struck out three-straight Black Bear batters to end the threat and keep the Catamounts to within a run.
Vermont made Kern's pitching stand up in the seventh as it pushed a run across to knot the game at 3-3. The tying run came on an infield single by Caroline Goddard, which allowed Laura Stagliano to score on the play. The Black Bears, though, weren't about to give the game up and responded in the bottom half of the inning. Ashley Waters led off the inning with a double to left-center field. After Terren Hall grounded out to third for the inning's first out, Calvetti came to the plate and fought off several Kern pitches. Calvetti finally won the battle as she drove a fastball back through the middle of the infield which brought home Waters all the way from second for the winning run. Waters and Calvetti each had a pair of hits in the game to pace the Maine offense. Balent got the win for Maine as she worked all seven innings -- her second complete-game victory in as many days -- and allowed just three runs on seven hits with 10 strikeouts and zero walks. The Black Bears jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Vermont responded with a run in both the second and third innings to hold a slim 2-1 lead. Maine returns to action Wednesday as it closes out its five-game homestand by playing host to Boston University at 3 p.m., at Kessock Field. |
