(Game 1 Box) (Game 2 Box) 

            PLYMOUTH, N.H. - Sophomore Andrea Pydynkowski (Danvers, Mass.) hit her team-leading sixth home run of the season to straightaway center field Wednesday afternoon to lead Plymouth State University to a 2-1 victory over the University of Southern Maine in the first game of a Little East Conference softball doubleheader at D&M Park.

            Sophomore Heather Gilman (Fairfield, Maine) returned the favor for the Huskies, cracking her first home run of the season in the second inning to put USM for good, and the visitors went on to earn of split of the doubleheader with a 3-1 victory in the nightcap.  PSU completes the day with a 17-12 overall record and a 5-7 mark in the LEC, while USM is now 6-28 overall and 4-8 in conference play.

            Pydynkowski's two-run blast provided all the runs that PSU senior Courtney MacFarland (Hampstead, N.H./Pinkerton) needed to improve her record to 9-6.  She went the distance, allowing just one run on six hits and a walk while striking out three.  The nine wins this season for MacFarland is a personal best, and she lowered her earned run average to 1.23.

            The Huskies scored their only run in the fifth inning when freshman Nani Jacobs (Kahnawake, Que.) led off with a double to right center field. She advanced to third on a fly out and scored on a single by sophomore Sarah Deroche (Portland, Maine/Deering), one of her two hits in the game.

            USM put two runners on base in both the sixth and seventh innings, but MacFarland shut the door on the Huskies both times.  Freshman Alexandra Perdomo (Portland, Maine/Portland) pitched well in a losing effort, allowing just two runs on six hits and a walk while fanning one.

            Southern Maine took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap when freshman Cerise Humphrey (Fryeburg, Maine) tripled with one out and then scored on a wild pitch.  PSU got that run back in the bottom half of the inning when freshman Allie Luisi (North Kingstown, R.I.) singled, was sacrificed to second and scored on a single by sophomore Kortney Nedeau (Kennebunk, Maine).

            The visitors retook the lead for good in the top of the second on Gilman's solo home run, and added an insurance run in the seventh inning on a bases-loaded ground out.

            PSU put two runners aboard in four of the last five innings but couldn't push a run across against Deroche.  She recorded the victory, allowing just one run despite scattering seven hits and four walks while striking out one.  PSU junior Jenna George (Cumberland, R.I.) suffered the setback for the home team.

            Both teams are right back on the diamond at 3:30 p.m. Thursday with non-conference doubleheaders, the Panthers traveling to Middlebury College and the Huskies visiting Bridgewater State College. 

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