ORONO, Maine – The University of Maine softball team is set to travel to Massachusetts and New York for the final non-conference series tune-ups.
 
The Black Bears will play a three-game series at Merrimack on Saturday and Sunday and then travel to Iona for a doubleheader on Tuesday.
 
Maine's games against the Warriors will stream on MerrimackAthletics.com while the series against the Gaels will stream live on ESPN+.
 
Game 19 | Maine at Merrimack
Saturday, March 15 | 12:00 p.m. | MerrimackAthletics.com
North Andover, Mass.
 
Game 20 | Maine at Merrimack
Saturday, March 15 | 2:00 p.m. | MerrimackAthletics.com
North Andover, Mass.
 
Game 21 | Maine at Merrimack
Sunday, March 16 | 12:00 p.m. | MerrimackAthletics.com
North Andover, Mass.
 
Game 22 | Maine at Iona
Tuesday, March 18 | 2:00 p.m. | ESPN+
New Rochelle, N.Y.
 
Game 23 | Maine at Iona
Tuesday, March 18 | 4:00 p.m. | ESPN+
New Rochelle, N.Y.
 

BLACK BEARS VERSUS…

• Maine is 2-3 all-time against Merrimack and 0-2 with both teams at the Division I level … the Black Bears fell 3-2 and 3-0 in a doubleheader in North Andover on March 13, 2021 … these two teams also first in 1988, with Maine losing 6-3, and then again in 2006, with the Black Bears winning a doubleheader, 6-2 and 5-4.
• Maine is 3-2 all-time against Iona … the most recent meeting was a 3-1 Maine win on March 24, 2019 in a neutral site contest … the Black Bears also swept a doubleheader in 2018, 1-0 and 5-1, and fell in a 2011 doubleheader 2-1 and 4-2.

QUICK HITS

• The Black Bears are coming off of a 2-3 weekend at the Bulldog Invitational, splitting with Sacred Heart and Yale while falling to Central Connecticut.
• On March 8, Maine had a 9-0 win over Sacred Heart and a 3-0 win over Yale to earn Maine's first back-to-back shutouts since April 2018.
• With at least 14 hits on the year, Kyrah Haba-Dailey has already recorded a career-high in hits and doubles (3).
• Haba-Dailey, Immy Gie and Gabby Papushka each have a team-leading four multi-hit games.
• Bailey Snowberger (14) and Morgan Pool (11) rank second and third, respectively, in the America East in walks.
• Papushka has a team-leading three home runs on the year and also a team-leading four multi-RBI games … her .544 slugging percentage is third in the conference
• In a 9-0 win over Sacred Heart on March 8, Alysen Rieth threw a complete-game three-hitter to earn Maine's first shutout win since May 2023.

 SIMMERMAN NAMED PITCHER, ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

• After going 1-1 at the Mardi Gras Classic, Madison Simmerman was named both the America East Pitcher of the Week and Rookie of the Week on Feb. 25.
• Simmerman earned her first career win in the tournament's opening game, throwing 4.0 innings while striking out two and giving up just three hits and no earned runs in Maine's 9-1 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. … Saturday, she threw 7.0 innings for her second complete game of the season while giving up five runs – four earned – in a 5-0 loss to Lipscomb.
• On the year, Simmerman is 1-2 with a 1.67 ERA in 21 innings pitched.
• It was the first time an America East student-athlete has won multiple softball weekly awards in the same week since March 2022 … she was also the first Black Bear to earn a weekly award since Kelby Drews was Player of the Week on Feb. 14, 2023.

ABOUT HEAD COACH KIMBERLY STILES

• Kimberly Stiles was named the seventh head coach of the Maine softball program on July 9.
• Stiles, who has achieved over 300 collegiate victories during her coaching career, comes to Orono with 14 years of head coaching experience across the Division I and Division II levels.
• She most recently spent the past three seasons at Holy Cross, guiding the Crusaders' program to 50 wins in a three-year span for the first time in 25 years.

 UP NEXT

• Maine will begin America East play with a doubleheader at Bryant on Saturday, March 22 followed by a single game against the Bulldogs on Sunday, March 23.