ORONO, Maine — Molly Flowers had a pedestrian freshman season in the circle for the University of Maine softball team, finishing with a 3-5 record and a 4.06 earned run average.
With America East Pitcher of the Year Alexis Bogdanovich having graduated, she has been called upon to take a more prominent role this spring and she has done so — in impressive fashion.
Entering this weekend’s impressive run three-game America East series at Stony Brook (New York), Maine’s first conference games, Flowers has the conference’s lowest ERA at 2.33. She has already tossed a no-hitter, striking out nine and walking four in a 6-0 win over a Green Bay team that had beaten UMaine in its first two meetings.
The hard-throwing, right-hander has struck out 79 in just 57 innings. She has four complete games. She had fanned just 27 in 48⅓ innings a year ago.
UMaine head coach Mike Coutts said Flowers had a back injury her freshman fall and it set her back. It was tough for her to gain confidence in the spring.
But she has been healthy this season.
“Physically, she’s a lot stronger, and she also lost some weight. That has helped her with her confidence,” said Coutts. “She has two out pitches: A rise ball and a changeup. She has been able to strike people out with both of those pitches. Her changeup is real good, and if you have a good changeup, you can get anybody out at any level.”
“My changeup is definitely my out pitch,” said Flowers, a native of East Haven, Connecticut.
“Her changeup has been on fire,” said senior catcher Janelle Bouchard. “People have been taking bad swings at it.”
In addition to her changeup and a lively rise ball, Flowers also throws a screwball and an occasional curve.
“I have better velocity this year. I’m a lot stronger after working with [performance coach] Jon Lynch,” said Flowers.
“I’m also stronger mentally. I have a lot more confidence. I know I can do it [be successful]. I knew I had a job to do [coming into the season]. I had to pull through for my team,” Flowers added.
Bouchard said Flowers’ boost in confidence is evident.
“She wants the ball. She was talented last year, but she‘s even more talented this year, and that comes with maturity and age. She’s been looking great,” said Bouchard.
Flowers has been happy with her season to date but said, “there are a lot of things I still need to work on.” Reducing her walks (40) is at the top of the list.
Flowers said Coutts, pitching coach Lynn Coutts and her team’s solid defense also have been instrumental in her success.
She said her no-hitter was “exciting.”
“They had beaten us twice and, in my mind, they weren’t going to get a hit off me that day,” said Flowers.