ORONO, Maine — University of Maine senior designated player Madison Hand said she was just “looking for my pitch” when she came up as a pinch-hitter in the fifth inning of a 1-1 game against nationally-ranked Division III power Husson University of Bangor in Wednesday night’s game at the Pierre and Catherine Labat Softball Complex.
Husson junior ace Ana Lang from Searsport, who entered the game with the nation’s seventh-lowest earned-run average at 0.63 among pitchers at 393 Division III schools, got ahead of her in the count only to have Hand foul off three, two-strike pitches.
Hand then launched a 1-2 pitch over the fence in left center field to give the Division I Black Bears a 2-1 victory in a well-played game in front of a good-sized crowd.
“I made her pitch to me and I think that’s what made me successful,” said Hand, whose homer was her second of the season. “She threw me a riseball and I got it early and got my top hand on top of it.”
Hand said she knew “right away” that it was going to leave the park and added that it felt “very good and rewarding” to deliver a game-winning homer.
“They knew my riseball was my go-to pitch and they definitely prepared for it,” said Lang. “There’s not much I could do about that one.”
It was just the second homer allowed by Lang this season in 90 ⅓ innings.
UMaine improved to 10-27 while Husson, ranked 20th in the country in the latest national poll, fell to 21-4.
It was the first time the two neighbors had met since 2014. UMaine has won all 16 meetings.
Lang turned in an impressive complete-game performance, striking out 11 and not walking anyone while allowing six hits. She threw 73 strikes among her 107 pitches. She did hit three batters.
“She’s a good pitcher. She had a pretty good riseball and put it in the right spots so it was hard to hit,” said UMaine junior third baseman Neve Adams.
“She’s a very, very good pitcher. We played them in the fall and every time I see her, she does a very nice job,” said UMaine head coach Kimberly Stiles.
Lang said she was overall pleased with her outing.
“I did what I could do and we did what we could do being a Division III team against a Division I team. But I’m never satisfied,” said Lang.
The winning pitcher was senior righthander Ava Zettlemoyer, who tossed three impressive innings of no-hit, shutout relief with six strikeouts and just one walk.
She entered the game with 47 walks and 34 strikeouts in 50 ⅔ innings.
She threw 29 strikes among her 48 pitches in relief of lefty Alysen Reith, who allowed two hits and one run in four innings with two strikeouts and one walk.
“My curveball was my best pitch,” said Zettlemoyer. “And I came into the game really confident. It was fun having people here under the lights at home. I had a lot of support in the field. It feels really good when the players behind you are talking you up.”
“We haven’t seen that kind of speed so far this year,” said Husson head coach and pitching guru Rick Roberts.
“She did a good job closing it out,” said Stiles.
UMaine took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Keira Inman’s long triple to right center, her team-leading third of the year, and a delayed steal of home by Inman after Eviana Robles was hit by a pitch and casually stole second, drawing a throw from Lang which enabled Inman to race home.
Emily Dunbar tied it for Husson when she belted a homer to left center off Reith in the fourth inning. It was her first of the season.
“Our kids battled. We were hoping for a win but didn’t get it,” said Roberts. “They showed a lot of heart. I’m proud of them.”
Adams, Kaleyn Larkin, Robles and Maggie Helms had singles for UMaine and Morgan Tainter had a base hit for Husson.
