Junior Ana Lang tossed a five-inning no-hitter and the Husson University Eagles pounded out 18 hits in four innings to capture its eighth consecutive North Atlantic Conference softball title with an 18-0 inning win over Waterville’s Thomas College at the O’Keefe Softball Field in Bangor on Saturday.
Searsport’s Lang, the tournament’s most valuable player, retired 15 of the 16 hitters she faced with six strikeouts for Husson, the nation’s 19th-ranked NCAA Division III school. She allowed only a hit batter.
Senior Emily Dunbar from Canaan drove in five runs with her fourth homer of the season and two doubles and fellow senior Morgan Tainter knocked in four runs with two doubles and a single for the 36-4 Eagles.
Gray-New Gloucester senior Morgan Curtis had two doubles and a single and drove in a run and Penobscot freshman Jetta Shook knocked in three runs with a double and a single. Winthrop senior Lydia Rice tripled and singled and Corinna junior Camryn King singled twice. Each drove in a run.
Every starter had at least one hit. Lang set the school single-season records for wins with 23 and strikeouts with 259 and King has scored a single-season high 50 runs.
Third-year head coach Rick Roberts earned his 100th career victory and became the fastest to do so in school history.
Thomas finished at 21-20.
Husson will advance to the NCAA Tournament and will learn where it is going on Monday. The Eagles had rallied to beat Thomas 7-3 earlier in the tournament in a winners bracket game.
Thomas led 3-1 but Tainter’s two-run double tied it in the fourth inning; an unearned run on a throwing error gave Husson the lead in the fifth and the Eagles added three in the sixth on a throwing error, Allie Casavant’s sacrifice fly and Braelynn Wilcox’s RBI groundout.
Lang went the distance for the win, striking out 11 and walking two while throwing a three-hitter.
Senior Megan Oberholzer’s two-run homer, her first of the season, and Skowhegan sophomore Maddy Morris’ RBI double accounted for the Thomas runs.
Ellsworth freshman Sophia Lynch doubled and singled for Husson and sophomore Casvant had two runs batted in as did Tainter.
Husson opened the tournament with a 4-1 win over the University of Maine at Farmington.
Rice hit her team-leading eighth homer of the season, a two-run shot, in the first inning and King drove in the other two runs with a sacrifice fly and her fourth homer of the campaign.
Lang and junior Sierra Yates combined on a one-hitter. Lang allowed one hit and an unearned run over 5 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts and a walk and Yates threw 1 2/3 innings of hitless relief with a strikeout.
Bridgton junior Melissa Mayo’s double was UMF’s only hit.
