The University of Maine’s softball team hosted its first series of the 2024 season this weekend, getting swept by America East foe University at Albany in Orono.
Finding themselves down early in all three games, the speedy Black Bears responded with entertaining three-run innings in both the first and final games of the series, using their legs to keep the Great Danes off balance until the final out.
In the second inning of game one on Saturday afternoon, UMaine beat out a double play with the bases loaded, took home on a passed ball, and finally beat out another groundball to tie it 3-3. In the top of the seventh, the Danes plated two on fifth-year pitcher Isabelle True (32.2 innings pitched, 8.79 ERA), and UMaine ultimately fell 6-4.
In the fifth inning of game three on Sunday morning, freshman center fielder Kenedee Giddens (.220 batting average, .524 on-base plus slugging) singled with the bases loaded and one out, scoring one. Two batters later, junior second baseman Katie Jo Moery (.274 BA, .715 OPS) beat out a grounder to short, plating freshman pinch-runner Kennedy Burns and Giddens on the play to make it 4-3 Albany — the final score on Sunday.
“I love that we fight. The girls weren’t giving up,” third-year UMaine head softball coach Jordan Fitzpatrick said. “We’re having good at-bats, making pitchers throw a lot of pitches to us, and we did a great job on the bases.”
With the losses, UMaine fell to 1-24 on the season (0-6 in-Conference), and Albany improved to 14-6 (3-0 in-Conference).
Fitzpatrick is confident that wins are right around the corner, especially after a tough non-conference schedule that included shutout losses to Wisconsin, Michigan, Louisville and Nebraska.
“We’re doing a good job sticking to the process. We’re right there,” Fitzpatrick said. “Good things will happen to us eventually, and we all know that. Sometimes it sucks to wait, but hopefully that means something greater is coming for us in the end. Last year was a perfect example of that.”
In 2023, the Black Bears entered the America East tournament with a 1-13 conference record, but rattled off three wins in a row over No. 5 Bryant, No. 4 UMass-Lowell and No. 2 Binghamton to make it all the way to the end of day three.
“We turned it on in the conference tournament, and I’m hoping that we turn it on before that,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’re a pretty positive group, and we’re bought in. Our hitting looks bad statistically, but we’ve been hitting the ball really hard all year. We just haven’t had those breaks.”
So far this season, the Black Bears are hitting .188 as a team, with an OPS of .501. Their opponents are hitting .365, with an OPS of 1.027.
On offense, Moery leads the team in batting, slugging (.387), OPS, and doubles (five). Senior first baseman Anna Margetis leads in home runs (four) and RBIs (eight). The duo combined for four hits on Sunday morning.
From the pitching circle, fifth-year Caitlyn Fallon leads the team in innings pitched (35.1) and ERA (8.32). She conceded two earned runs in four innings on Sunday morning.
Moving forward, UMaine will play Saint Joseph’s (2-8 overall) at home on Wednesday at 4 p.m., and then host Bryant (18-8 overall, 4-2 in-Conference) for a three-game series this weekend, including a doubleheader on Saturday.
