Auburn, ME – The CMCC Softball team saw its 2024-25 season come to an end on Sunday after a 7-2 loss to UMaine-Augusta in the Yankee Small College Conference tournament semifinals. The #2 seeded Mustangs hosted the four-team tournament at their turf complex on campus and took a 2-0 lead but could not hold off the #3 seeded Moose in the later innings. Central Maine finishes the campaign with an 11-16 overall record.
Before the game, sophomore Sam Withee and sisters Olivia and Miah Gallan were presented with awards as part of the nine-player YSCC Softball All-Conference team. It was the third individual honor for senior Olivia Gallan, who was named a USCAA 2nd-Team All-American and USCAA All-American Honorable Mention in previous years. She and sister Miah have also both been Academic All-Americans.
The semifinal got underway with starting pitcher Autumn Peterson throwing three straight one-two-three innings to get off to a great start for the Mustangs. The hosts threatened in the bottom of the first with runners on second and third with two outs, but McKenna Ridlon's groundout ended the scoring threat.
It would take until the bottom of the third for CMCC to put their first run across the plate. Olivia led off with a single drilled off the leg of first baseman Audrey Nile and came home on Peterson's line drive double to the center field fence for a 1-0 lead. Miah then singled through the right side and promptly stole second base to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out.
Withee was called out when she made contact on a pitch inside with her foot out of the batter's box and Ridlon grounded out to second to put two outs on the board, but not before driving in Peterson to make it 2-0. Keira Greene was then thrown out on a grounder to second to end the inning.
UMaine-Augusta responded with two runs of their own in the top of the fourth, taking advantage of errors by Central Maine. Aubrey Peer's grounder to second was thrown wide allowing her to move into scoring position. Mackenzie Kutniewski then drilled a double through the gap to send her racing around to score, taking third herself on an overthrow to the plate that sailed high. That allowed Arabel Linkletter to bring her home with a sac-fly to tie the game.
Addison McCormick settled down in the circle for UMA, retiring the side in order for the next two innings. The Moose took the lead for good in the top of the fifth with a big inning, first loading the bases on a Kaylee Kurr walk and back-to-back singles by Peer and Kutniewski. Linkletter brought two of them across the plate for a 4-2 lead when her grounder to short was thrown wide. Kutniewski sprinted home on a passed ball that skipped to the backstop, and Linkletter scored on Nile's RBI single that dropped into right field, making it 6-2 UMaine-Augusta.
Lauryn Wood relieved Peterson in the circle in a tough situation with the bases loaded and nobody out, with UMA threatening to put the game out of reach. But the sophomore from Winthrop, ME settled in right away, striking out back-to-back batters and getting Kurr to fly out to center field to end the inning.
The Moose added one more in the sixth when Skyla Dean drew a bases loaded walk to plate Kutniewski, making it 7-2. CMCC tried to spark a rally in the bottom of the seventh with the Gallan sisters each reaching on singles into the outfield. However, with two outs, Withee's fly ball to right field was hauled in by Emily Lunn to finish off the game.
The #1 seeded SMCC squad would defeat #4 NHTI 29-2, with the Seawolves going on to defeat the first-year Moose team 10-0 in five innings for the conference title. This was the first YSCC Softball Tournament played in six years, since the 2018-19 season. SMCC picked up its third YSCC championship in school history and first since 2014. Southern Maine also advances to the USCAA World Series in DuBois, PA.
