GORHAM, Maine -- The Bates softball team wrapped up its 2022 season Monday at the University of Southern Maine, splitting a doubleheader with the Huskies. The Bobcats fell 7-0 in game one but bounced back to win game two by a score of 4-2.
Game One: Southern Maine 7, Bates 0
The Huskies scored six runs in the bottom of the fourth to grab the lead and Lauren Merrill threw six shutout innings as USM defeated the Bobcats 7-0 in game one of Monday's doubleheader.
With the game scoreless after three and a half innings, Lauren Leidemann-Smith started the scoring with an RBI single to right. Rona Scott and Hannah Shields and Kulis and Makena Mulcahy each had an RBI in the inning. Scott had an RBI single, while Shields doubled in a run.
The Huskies made it 7-0 in the bottom of the fifth when Merrill drew a bases loaded walk for a run, and Merrill and Kulis kept Bates off the board over the next two innings to wrap up the game.
Madison Day was 3-for-4 at the plate with a run scored to lead USM's 10-hit attack. Leidemann-Smith and Kaitlyn Nelson had two hits each.
Senior
Kennedy Ishii (Honolulu, Hawaii) led the Bates offense in game one, going 1-3 with a double. Bates tallied five hits in the contest. Junior
Katherine Merisotis (Coventry, Conn.) threw an inning and two thirds of shutout ball out of the bullpen, striking out two.
Game Two: Bates 4, Southern Maine 2
Senior
Danielle Polirer tossed a complete game five-hitter and the Bates softball team ended the season on a high note in game two of Monday's doubleheader at the University of Southern Maine.
Polirer (Bellmore, N.Y.) struck out five Huskies in the contest. Fellow senior
Aleah Pagan (Orinda, Calif.) and first-year
Grace Householter (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) led the offense, with both Bobcats going 2-3 at the plate.
Bates (9-17) scored all four of its runs in the top of the second inning.
Sophomore
Rachel Liazos (Westborough, Mass.) got hit by a pitch to start the frame and then stole second base. One out later, senior
Eliza McNulty (Cambridge, Mass.) doubled her home for the 1-0 Bates lead. Householter singled McNulty to third and stole second to put runners at second and third with one away. Pagan followed with an RBI single to center and advanced to second on the throw home.
Now up 2-0, the Bobcats added to their lead thanks to an RBI single to right off the bat of first-year
Sarah Cooke (Wenham, Mass.) which scored Householter from third. A wild pitch scored Pagan and Bates led 4-0.
The Huskies (23-14) got two runs back in the bottom of the second on an RBI double from Morgan Roast and an RBI single from Samatha Hauck.
But Polirer (7-6) held USM to just two more hits the rest of the way, securing the victory for Bates.
