ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine softball team will start this year's campaign in Georgia under a new skipper,
Jordan Fitzpatrick, who was named head coach last August after six years as an assistant.
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Maine returns to the diamond with 10 seniors, including
Keely Clark who excelled at the plate for the Black Bears. In 28 games played, Clark batted a highly-efficient .360 and finished with 27 hits, 7 of which were for extra bases.
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Seniors
Kelby Drews,
Emma Larke, and
Kya Enos also return to Orono for the new 2022 season. In 2021, Enos recorded the third-best batting average on the team.
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Larke ended the 2021 campaign with a solid .256 batting average and a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in the 26 games she appeared in.
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Drews had another productive season at the plate for the Black Bears. The senior infielder finished her third senior at Maine with a .256 average and 17 runs batted in, which was good enough for second on the team. Drews' seven home runs was the most of any Black Bear.
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Junior
Izzy Nieblas also returns to Orono. The first baseman was perfect in the field, accounting a perfect 1.00 field percentage. She did not disappoint at the plate either, ending atop the Black Bears in runs batted in with 18. Nieblas also cranked four homers, the second most on the roster.
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Maine returns three pitchers from last season: junior
Caitlyn Fallon, and seniors
Emily Reid and
Gabbie Siciliano. Fallon appeared in the most games (12) in 2021 and started in eight of those games. She finished with a 5.21 ERA and 24 K's.
Five freshman will make their debuts for the Black Bears this season.
Gabby Papushka,
Rylee Kent,
Katie Jo Moery,
Alexandra Gruitch, and
Kryah Haba-Dailey make up the newest class.
The Black Bears start their 2022 slate on Friday, February 18
in Statesboro, Georgia, when they face off against North Dakota State University.
-UMaine-
