South Portland, ME – CMCC Softball dropped two games in its final meeting of the regular season with rival SMCC. The Seawolves staved off a late comeback attempt to take game one 9-4 before defeating the Mustangs 10-0 in game two. The pair of losses drops Central Maine to 5-5 in conference play heading into their final series of the regular season.
Game One, 9-4 L
The hosts jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Sarah Wilkins, who pitched a perfect game against the Mustangs earlier this spring, started off with a one-two-three inning, striking out two. In the bottom half, leadoff hitter Cameron Crerar doubled to right and stole third, before coming home on an Olivia Hill groundout. Two batters later, Emily Hutchins doubled the lead with a solo home run off Central Maine starter Lauryn Wood.
Crerar scored again in the third on another RBI groundout, this time by Delanie Perry. Wilkins helped her own cause in the fourth. The Red Deer, AB native drew a walk and moved into scoring position with two outs by stealing second and third. Wilkins scored when Courtney Frohaug tripled to right making it 4-0.
Sam Withee did get CMCC's first hit in the second inning, but it would take until the fifth inning before a run came across the plate. Keira Greene reached safely on a hard-hit ground ball that forced an error by the shortstop. Alivia Field moved her over to second and McKenna Ridlon drove her in with an RBI double into left.
However, that run seemed to reawaken the SMCC bats. The Seawolves scored four times in the bottom half, the highlight being Ella Voth's fly ball into right field that went for a two-RBI double.
The Mustangs bore down and looked for a comeback late on, starting by scoring three runs in the sixth. Miah Gallan came through with a two-RBI hit of her own, this one a single up the middle that scored older sister Olivia Gallan and Autumn Peterson. Sam Withee worked a walk to put two runners on and catcher Madison Anderson plated another run when she ground out to third base.
Wood continued to give a strong effort in the circle for Central Maine by getting the first two batters out in the bottom half of the inning, but was beginning to tire. Hutchins walked and came around to score on a Wilkins single up the middle, making it 9-4. When Sloan Scotvold worked a walk as well, Autumn Peterson came on in relief to finish the game.
Wilkins appeared to be running out of juice as well heading to the Mustangs' final at-bats. Ridlon led off with a walk, Makenzie Anderson was hit by a pitch, and Olivia singled to load the bases with nobody out. But that was where the rally would end. Ridlon was thrown out at home on Peterson's ground ball down the third base line. Miah's line drive that appeared destined for extra bases was instead snagged by Frohaug at short, and the last out came on a wild pitch that catcher Hutchins got back to Wilkins in time to tag out the sliding Anderson to end the game.
Game Two, 10-0 L
The second game of the doubleheader was much more straightforward for SMCC. Peterson continued pitching for Central Maine to start game two, but struggled as she continued to battle through a lower body injury. The Seawolves batted around the order, drawing seven walks and scoring six times, including two on wild pitches.
Senior captain and centerfielder Olivia Gallan was called upon once again to deputize as an emergency pitcher. Southern Maine scored two more runs on a hit-by-pitch and double steal to lead 8-0 after one.
CMCC did get runners into scoring position twice, including loading the bases in the third inning, but could not get the timely hit they needed to score a run off starter Sloan Scotvold. Cydney Fetterly scored for SMCC in the third and Wilkins became the second different Seawolf to homer on the day with a solo shot in the fourth, making it 10-0.
From there, a quick fifth inning ended the game early and completed a season sweep of the Mustangs for Southern Maine.
The two teams could see each other one more time this year. SMCC will be the #1 seed in the YSCC Tournament after romping through their conference schedule with an undefeated 12-0 record. The Mustangs are in position to be the #2 seed in the tournament, needing just one win to clinch the spot. CMCC hosts NHTI on Thursday, April 24th with game one scheduled to start at 6:00 pm.
