ORONO, Maine — Molly Flowers pitched her fourth no-hitter of the season on Saturday to help the University of Maine softball team close out its regular season with a doubleheader split against the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Flowers pitched the Black Bears to a 6-0 victory in the opener at Kessock Field, before the Retrievers bounced back to take a 2-1 decision in the second game.
Coach Mike Coutts’ UMaine ballclub (25-19, 12-5 AE) earned the No. 2 seed for next week’s America East tournament, which will be played at Vestal, New York, after Binghamton (33-13, 14-3 AE) clinched the regular-season title on Saturday.
The Black Bears and Bearcats draw first-round byes. UMaine faces the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 3 Albany (31-16, 11-5 AE) and No. 6 Hartford (6-43, 2-14) on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. Binghamton takes on the victor from Wednesday’s contest between No. 4 Stony Brook (31-16, 11-6 AE) and No. 5 UMBC on Thursday at 11 a.m.
It is a double-elimination event.
Flowers, a sophomore right-hander, struck out 12 and walked only one batter in fashioning another gem on Saturday. She previously no-hit Green Bay in a seven-inning game on March 15, then pitched five-inning no-hitters against Butler and UMass Lowell on March 11 and April 8, respectively.
Flowers, who evened her season record at 10-10, was backed by a nine-hit attack that included an RBI double and a run-scoring single by Janelle Bouchard and Felicia Lennon’s two-run double. Alyssa Derrick also posted a run-producing triple.
Kim Puccio (7-5) took the loss while going the distance. She struck out two and walked three.
Neither team committed an error.
UMaine broke a scoreless tie in the third inning when Sarah Coyne walked and scored two outs later on Bouchard’s double to right-center. Rachel Harvey beat out an infield hit, setting the stage for Lennon’s two-run double to right-center. Derrick followed with her triple to make it 3-0.
The Black Bears added two runs in the fourth when Coyne singled with one out and scored on Leonard’s double to right-center. One out later, Bouchard delivered Coyne with a single to right-center.
In the second game, Jordan Sganga’s RBI double with two out in the sixth provided the eventual winning run for UMBC (24-29, 5-11 AE).
Jessica Holte (13-12) scattered seven hits for the winners, surrendering only Bouchard’s home run in the fourth.
Bridget O’Malley (double) and Morgan Peyou each posted two hits for UMBC.
Bouchard added a single for the Black Bears to support starter and loser Annie Kennedy (6-5), who surrendered eight hits and two runs and struck out three in 5⅔ innings.
UMBC grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third. Jaclyn Buckled singled, moved up on Shayna Rider’s sacrifice bunt and O’Malley’s single, then stole home.
UMaine equalized on Bouchard’s home run, but in the sixth Danielle O’Neil sparked a two-out rally with a single, then scooted home on Sganga’s double down the right-field line.