EASTON, Mass. (April 8, 2025) – The Stonehill College softball team traded wins with the University of Maine at Fr. Gartland Field on Tuesday, dropping the first game, 11-9, before winning the second, 7-6.
 
GAME 1 – Maine 11 (7-26, 0-9 AE), Stonehill 9 (9-22, 2-7 NEC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Sophomore Piper Hofmann (Windermere, Fla.) led off the bottom of the first with a single before eventually crossing home plate after a sacrifice bunt, a ground out, and an error by the third baseman to give Stonehill a 1-0 lead. Senior Shannon Conte (Amesbury, Mass.) added another run in the first with her first triple of the year, driving in senior Isabella Therrien (Auburn, Mass.).
 
The Skyhawks scored six runs in the bottom of the second, all coming with two outs in the inning. Stonehill recorded six singles, and four different Skyhawks recorded RBI as Stonehill took an 8-0 lead.
 
Maine came storming back into the game in the top of the third, scoring six runs of their own highlighted by a three-run home run to center field by Gabby Papushka as the Black Bears cut their deficit to two, 8-6.
 
Papushka hit a solo home run in the top of the fourth to make the score 8-7. The Skyhawks threatened in the bottom of the fourth with the bases loaded and two outs but Maine evaded danger with a groundout to third base.
 
The tying run came across for the Black Bears in the top of the fifth on a ground out to the shortstop. Stonehill would retake the lead in the bottom half of the inning, 9-8, after a wild pitch with the bases loaded let freshman Grace Conaway (St. Paul Park, Minn.) walk across home plate unchallenged.
 
Maine tallied its third home run of the game in the top of the sixth, this one a two-run blast from Keara Inman to give the Black Bears their first lead of the game, 10-9. Papushka added an insurance run in the top of the seventh with an RBI single as Maine went into the last half inning leading 11-9.
 
Stonehill was able to muster one baserunner but the Black Bears held the Skyhawks offense in check, securing the 11-9 win.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Every Skyhawk starter reached base, and eight of the nine batters in the lineup got a hit, while redshirt junior May Dawes (Beacon Falls, Conn.) was held hitless but drew a pair of walks.
• Senior Chloe Kelly (East Bridgewater, Mass.) tallied a season-high three hits with an RBI, while classmate Emily Nardelli (North Attleboro, Mass.) recorded her second multi-hit game of the season with two singles and an RBI.
• Conte recorded career hits number 99 and 100 as she notched her first triple of the season with an RBI, a run scored, and a walk.
• Conaway had two base hits and scored twice. Sophomore Harper Sullivan (Glendale, Ariz.) reached base three times with a hit and two walks.
• Three different Skyhawks pitched in the loss as sophomore Alexa Hospodar (Old Bethpage, N.Y.) fell to 2-6. Freshman Amelia Styskal-Ward (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) made her first appearance in the circle since March 15 at Saint Francis, going two innings while allowing just three hits and one run with a strikeout and a walk.

 
GAME 2 – Stonehill 7 (10-22, 2-7 NEC), Maine 6 (7-27, 0-9 AE),  
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Stonehill got off to a quick start again, scoring in the first inning on a throwing error from the shortstop to third. Maine tied the game 1-1 in the top of the second on an RBI single to left field by Eviana Robles.
 
Junior Natalie Bottiglieri (Massapequa, N.Y.) laid down a perfect bunt in the bottom of the second to bring in Kelly from third base after she led off the inning with a double off the center field wall. Maine used a similar play in the top of the third to drive in the tying run as a bunt single with runners on a third and second tied the score at 2-2.
 
Therrien and Conte opened the bottom of the third with a pair of hits to get both of them in scoring position before Dawes stepped up, driving in both runs with a single up the middle. Nardelli eventually brought in another run in the third with a sacrifice fly to deep right as Stonehill led 5-2.
 
The Black Bears responded with two runs in the fourth on an RBI single to left and a sacrifice fly to right to pull back within one, 5-4. Therrien drove in Hofmann from second base with a two-out RBI single to right field before Dawes drove in her third RBI of the game with a single through the left side of the infield that made the score 7-4.
 
Maine scored its fifth run in the bottom of the fifth, using a sacrifice fly to center field to capitalize on a leadoff triple in the inning. After a scoreless sixth, the Black Bears scored a run in the top of the seventh and had runners on second and third with two outs, trailing 7-6, but Sullivan forced a flyout to center to throw a complete game and pick up the non-conference win for the Skyhawks.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Sullivan improves to 4-2 in the circle, throwing all seven innings, allowing 13 hits and six runs (three earned), with a walk and three strikeouts. This was Sullivan's third complete game of the season as she lowered her ERA to a team-best mark of 3.54.
• Hofmann went 3-4 with two runs scored out of the leadoff spot, while Dawes put up a season-high three RBI on two base hits.
• Therrien also had two hits, scoring twice and driving in one run. Conte, Conaway, Kelly, and Bottiglieri each recorded one hit in the win.
• Both Therrien and Conaway are in the midst of six-game hitting streaks.

 
UP NEXT

• Stonehill softball continues Northeast Conference play this weekend on the road at Wagner College, taking on the Seahawks in Staten Island, N.Y. at 1 and 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 12 before the series final on Sunday, April 13 at noon at the Wagner Softball Field.

 
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