FARMINGTON – The University of Maine at Farmington softball team put up 10 runs over the first two innings on its way to an 11-10 extra innings win over Lasell University, salvaging a split out of its 2022 season opening doubleheader on Thursday at the Fortune Road Athletic Complex.
The Beavers fell to Bethel University (Minn.), 7-0, in the day’s first game, and the first game of UMaine-Farmington’s Florida spring break trip.
In the victory over Lasell, UMaine-Farmington (1-1) plated six runs on nine hits – all singles – and one Lasell error in the top of the first inning to take an early lead. The Lasers answered by manufacturing four runs in the bottom half of the inning, leaving the Beavers with a 6-4 lead after the first inning.
The Beavers extended their lead to 10-4 in the top of the second with a four-run uprising, keyed by Makayla Wilson’s two-run single into right-center field.
Lasell scratched out single runs in the third and the sixth innings, narrowing the margin to 10-6, before tying the game with four runs in the bottom of the seventh. All four Laser runs crossed with two outs, including a two-run triple to right by Matara Tamzarian, and a flared RBI double down the right field line by Mackenzie Still.
UMaine-Farmington went ahead 11-10 in the top of the eighth, after tiebreaker runner Leah Stevens scored on Wilson sacrifice bunt and Olivia Paradis’ grounder to first. In the home half of the eighth, Samara Turgeon sacrificed tiebreaker runner Emily Mestas over to third, but UMaine-Farmington pitcher Carleigh Schievink induced a pair of pop-ups to short for the second and third outs to clinch the win.
Schievink allowed six runs, two earned, on nine hits over seven-and-a-third innings in the circle, and fanned four Laser batters, on her way to the win.
Wilson and Emma Campbell each tallied two runs batted in while Leah Stevens went 2-for-3 to lead a UMaine-Farmington squad that pounded out 10 hits against Lasell. The win was the first collegiate head coaching victory for UMaine-Farmington’s first-year head coach Alyssa Williamson.
In the day’s first game, a Bethel squad that was wrapping up its spring break trip to Florida faced off against a UMaine-Farmington side that was playing its 2022 season opener, and the Royals eventually got the better of the Beavers.
Bethel scored three runs in the top of the third, two of those coming off Jamie Axelberg’s two-run home run to left-center. The Royals extended their lead to 4-0 with a single run in the fifth, and plated two runs on three hits in the sixth. A solo home run by Jordyn Rudolph with two-out in the top of the seventh capped the scoring.
Schievink finished game one with five strikeouts over seven innings pitched. Paradis paced the Beavers at the plate with a pair of hits.
UMaine-Farmington completes its Florida slate on Friday, March 18, with a pair of games. The Beavers will face SUNY Cortland at 3:15 p.m., followed by a clash with Framingham State at 5:15 p.m. Both games will be in Leesburg, Florida, at Sleepy Hollow Park.
