Husson University won both the softball and baseball North Atlantic Conference tournaments over the weekend — for the fifth consecutive year. On Monday, they learned their respective opening-game opponents in the NCAA Division III national championships.
Fueled by bigtime performances from Maine players, the Eagles played true to their No. 1 seeding in both conference tournaments, continuing their reign of dominance over the NAC and advancing to the national tourneys.
The softball team (35-4) will begin its quest for a national title versus Framingham State University (24-18) at home, at noon on Thursday.
The baseball team (23-10) will open up play versus Endicott College (39-2) in Connecticut, at noon on Friday.
This past weekend in Bangor, senior Kenzie Dore of Brewer won NAC softball tournament MVP as the Eagles trounced No. 5 SUNY-Morrisville 18-0 and then beat No. 2 SUNY-Polytechnic two times in a row, winning their 30th consecutive game and 13th NAC title since 2009.
Over the Eagles’ three tournament games, Dore totaled four home runs, three walks and 12 RBIs, raising her season batting average to .548 and her on-base plus slugging percentage to an incredible 1.744.
Meanwhile, junior Kiara McLeod (.766 OPS) of Harrison tallied four extra-base hits and three RBIs, and junior Bulla McCabe (.804 OPS) of Hawaii recorded four hits, four runs and three RBI.
From the pitching circle, freshman Ana Lang (1.18 ERA) of Searsport and sophomore Dani Masterson (1.58 ERA) of Hampden combined to allow just four runs and throw 31 strikeouts in three games.
In the NAC baseball championship at SUNY-Cobleskill in New York, senior Jackson Curtis of Ellsworth was awarded tournament MVP as the Eagles beat Eastern Nazarene 4-1, and then dominated the hosts 20-2 in the second round and again 9-1 in the finals.
“Jackson is one of the best players in this league — we have a lot of local guys that have done big things,” Husson head coach Chris Morris said. “This senior class has raised the bar every year. Their leadership is outstanding.”
Jackon’s younger brother Hunter (1.153 OPS), a sophomore, was also an offensive force over the weekend, tallying seven hits, five runs, three RBIs and three stolen bases. Meanwhile, junior Tanner Evans (.583 OPS) of Old Town collected five hits and five RBIs, and sophomore Keegan Cyr (.728 OPS) of Bangor tallied seven walks and six runs from the leadoff spot.
On the mound, junior Matt Wallingford of Greene (1.50 ERA) threw 8.1 innings of shutout ball with eight strikeouts in game one, and senior Alex Smith (2.93 ERA) of Massachusetts threw five innings of shutout ball in the finals.
Next up, the Husson softball and baseball teams will compete with three other teams apiece to advance to the NCAA super regionals, or round of 16. Neither team has ever accomplished this feat in program history.
The softball team will host Rennselaer Polytechnic (34-5), Williams College (23-11) and Framingham St. University in a double elimination regional tournament from May 16-18.
The baseball team will travel to Willimantic, Connecticut, to challenge Endicott, Ramapo College of New Jersey, and Eastern Connecticut State in a double elimination regional tournament from May 17-19.
