Colby baseball coach Dale Plummer says it seems like the Mules haven’t gotten the good end of the game’s breaks for a few years now. Maybe this weekend was the start of something different.

Colby won two one-run games over Plymouth State on Sunday, putting the Mules at 10-10 overall and 7-1 in games decided by one or two runs. Colby is at Southern Maine on Wednesday and begins a three-game series with Tufts on Friday.

“I don’t feel we’ve played our best baseball,” Plummer said. “If we’re going to peak, it’s definitely going to be moving forward.”

Plummer feels the Mules have yet to peak because of the adjustment process from high school to college baseball, which he feels is more mental than physical. Plummer sees the college season as actually five separate seasons: Hands-off periods for coaches in the fall and in January, preseason with the coaches, games in the Florida sun, then back to New England in something other than the sun.

Tufts is 12-4-1 with a team ERA of 2.96. The Jumbos finished 34-7 last year and were 3-0 against Colby, but one game ended up 10-8 and another was 2-1. Reliever Edward Bernstein pitched in both of those games for Tufts, and this year, he is striking out 14.44 batters per nine innings and holding opponents to a batting average of .064.

But Plummer remembers those two close games, and thinks Colby can play with Tufts if the Mules execute. Colby’s wild pitches (42), hit batsmen (36) and unearned runs (33) are all higher than their opponents.

On the other hand, those numbers look worse than they really are. Almost half of the 154 runs Colby has allowed came in four games. Plus, the Mules can hit. Right fielder Richard Newton is hitting .451 with eight stolen bases from the leadoff spot, and five other starters are hitting over .315.

“He’s a captain. He’s a leader,” Plummer said of Newton. “He’s staying within his own game plan, not trying to do more than what he can do.”

• • •

Thomas softball is 7-1 since returning from its Florida trip. The Terriers are at Bowdoin today for a doubleheader and host Colby on Thursday.

In those eight games, the Terriers have had everything working. They hit .353 during that stretch to raise their team batting average over .300. Lawrence High School graduate Mallorie Blakney is now hitting .525.

“I think she’s starting to believe she’s more than just a slapper,” Thomas coach Terry Parlin said. “She had a couple doubles to the fence.”

Sophomore Kelsey Crowe and freshman shortstop Lindsay Fry are each hitting over .400. Parlin said he has two or three players who could start and succeed, but right now, there’s no obvious weak spot for them to fill in. That kind of depth could be a big boost in close conference games.

“I think we’re getting better and better,” he said. “We have more options this year than we’ve ever had before, especially to bring in players who can come in off the bench.”

Defense was a little bit of a sore spot for Thomas in the past, but this season, the Terriers are down to about an error per game.

“We’ve had a couple of innings,” Parlin said, in the way a Mainer would say, “We’ve had some weather.”

“Other than that,” he added, “we feel pretty good about what we’re doing.”

Crowe is still unable to pitch because of a shoulder injury, but Sara Pavento is 8-4 with well under two walks per game, and Maine Central Institute grad Jordan Kennedy has 23 strikeouts in 18 innings in her first game action in two years.

“Sara’s definitely doing a great job. Her strength is her ability to locate,” Parlin said. “Jordan is definitely getting back. She’s not back to where she was, but she’s definitely taking steps forward to improve her stamina.”

• • •

The UMaine-Farmington women’s lacrosse team is 1-6, but it has actually been playing pretty well during its last five games. Its biggest loss in that stretch was 21-13 to Rivier, which owns an 8-3 record. The only teams to score more than 13 goals against Rivier were the sources of those three losses.

“For us, it’s just staying focused for the entire 60 minutes,” UMF coach Molly Wilkie said. “We can’t afford to have a bad half, or a half where we’re not mentally focused.

“The players work really hard. They never give up. We’ve had kind of some rough luck in some of those games.”

Part of that rough luck has been injuries. Center Amie Daniels is still out with a sprained ankle from early in the season, although Wilkie said Emma Morrison has filled in nicely at that position. She and Miranda Levesque have nine goals apiece, while Aimee St. Germain has 17 and Maranacook grad Alyssa Neptune has scored 11 times.

The Beavers start only one senior, attacker Corinne Vierkant. They are off until the weekend, when they host Husson and Green Mountain.

“We’re just looking to clean up some of the stuff we need to work on, polish up some of our offensive sets and defensive sets,” Wilkie said.

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

mdifilippo@centralmaine.com

Copy the Story Link