Maine Edges Terriers For America East Softball Championship
May 15, 2004 | Softball
GAME ONE - Boston University 3, Maine 2
GAME TWO - Maine 2, Boston University 1
ORONO, Maine - Maine won its second America East Softball Championship with a 2-1 win over B.U. in Orono, Maine on Saturday, May 15. The Terriers forced a second and deciding title game with a 3-2 win over the Black Bears earlier in the day.
Maine (28-21) became the first fourth seed to win the America East softball title in the conference's 13 years of sponsoring the tournament. B.U. (26-32) fell short in its attempt to win its third straight championship.
Three Terriers, senior center fielder Abbey Pauley (Spring, Texas), junior shortstop Jamie Haas (Houston, Texas), and freshman pitcher Ashlee Freeman (Northridge, Calif.), were among those chosen to the All-Championship Team.
GAME ONE - Boston University 3, Maine 2
Facing elimination for the fourth time in two days, the Terriers defeated the Black Bears, 3-2, to force a second and deciding title game.
Pauley led off the game with a walk and came around from first to score on a long double by Haas. Pauley scored four runs from the lead-off spot in B.U.'s five tournament games.
Freeman got out of a pitching jam in the second inning by starting a 1-6-3 inning ending double-play. The Terriers would also end the fifth frame with a double-play.
Maine pitcher Jenna Merchant losts her pitching control in the third, walking four straight batters. Sophomore designated player Erin McDOnald (Macon, Ill.) was the beneficiary, walking for force in the Terriers' second run.
Maine got on the board with a Merchant RBI single in the sixth to make the score 2-1. B.U. added a much-needed insurance run in the top of the seventh, as junior left fielder DeKenya Williams (San Diego, Calif.) stole second and came around to score on a pair of Black Bear throwing errors.
Maine scored one run in the seventh on a Brittany Cheney sacrifice fly, but could not plate the game-tying run.
Freeman (18-13) went the distance, scattering 11 hits. B.U. scored its three runs on only four hits.
GAME TWO - Maine 2, Boston University 1
For the fourth time in five games, Pauley scored a run in her first at-bat, giving B.U. another quick 1-0 lead. Behind freshman pitcher Brittany Detwiler (Souderton, Pa.), the run would hold up until the sixth inning.
In the sixth, Maine plated its two deciding runs, the first on a single by Jess Brady, the second on another Cheney sacrifice fly.
Maine's Sarah Bennis (10-9), who finished the first game for the Black Bears, threw a complete-game two-hitter in the second game.
Freeman came on in reilef for the Terriers, pitching a spotless 1.1 innings.
