The University of Maine’s softball team won’t be able to play its home openers against Albany this weekend in Orono, so the Black Bears will trek to Albany for the three-game set.
Albany is the defending conference champion and went 1-2 in the NCAA Eugene [Oregon] Regional last spring. The Great Danes wound up 34-13.
“The snow is off our field, but it’s still thawing,” Maine softball coach Lynn Coutts said. “The crew did a great job clearing it, but we needed a few warm days, and we didn’t get them.”
Coutts said the policy in America East is that if the home field is unplayable, they have to flip the games to the other team’s field if it is playable. If neither field is playable, they try to agree on a neutral field.
Albany hosted UConn on Wednesday and beat the Huskies 2-1. It was the Great Danes’ first game since they concluded their spring trip to Winter Haven, Florida, on March 17.
Albany is 13-7.
Albany’s home series with Stony Brook last weekend was postponed as was Maine’s series at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Maine, 11-13, hasn’t played since its spring trip to Clearwater, Florida, on March 14.
The teams will play a Sunday doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. and a Monday single game at 11:30 a.m.
“We just need to play,” said Coutts. “It has been three weeks. Last weekend was our bye weekend. Already, some of the other teams in the conference have two weekends to make up. We’re all in the same boat. It’s like starting over.”
Maine will be the home team for the series at Albany.
“We play so much on the road, anyway, this won’t affect us,” said Coutts. “It would be nice to sleep in your own bed and eat your own food.
“But we stay very focused on the road,” she added.
The Black Bears will regain the services of sophomore third baseman Shelby Obert, a former Skowhegan High School standout who had been sidelined with a broken bone in her hand.
Freshman Faythe Goins has been filling in admirably, according to Coutts.
The Black Bears have been led by senior South Portland native and three-time America East Pitcher of the Week Alexis Bogdanovich (6-3, 1.57 ERA, 71 strikeouts in 67 innings), sophomore shortstop Felicia Lennon (.329, 1 homer, 12 runs batted in), freshman center fielder Erika Leonard (.313-2-14) and senior left fielder Emj Fogel (.304-0-13).