By AL EDWARDS
Sports Editor
BIDDEFORD — The University of New England softball team might have looked toward the late Rodney Dangerfield before it entered the Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament.
The Nor’easters seem to be trumping his mantra ”“ “I get no respect” ”“ as they have whipped through the conference tournament and into today’s title game as the only team with zero losses in the playoff event.
Along the way, UNE, the No. 3 seed, beat the top two seeds, Endicott and Salve Regina, to reach today’s finale.
“We’ve gone in with the attitude that, ”˜Hey, we’re the third seed, so those teams think they’re better than us,’” said UNE coach Dan Letellier. “They got the awards and a lot of recognition, but we need to prove to them that we’re a pretty good team, too.”
And prove it they have.
The Nor’easters have outscored their opponents 16-1 in three games. That includes a 2-1 win against Western New England, then a 3-0 win against Endicott, before an 11-0 win against No. 1 Salve Regina.
UNE lost both of its games to Salve in the regular season, so they have confidence going into today as they await the winner of Salve and Endicott, said UNE senior catcher Ashley Gott.
“I think whether we face Salve or Endicott, we know we can beat both of them,” said Gott, who won the Conference Player of the Year award. “When we beat (Salve) 11-0, that made a statement.”
UNE (25-12) has ridden the right arm of first-year pitcher Kelly Reid, who has only allowed one run. That came in the first game on Monday, in the first inning when the second hitter smacked a home run.
Against Endicott, Reid allowed four hits and walked two as she shutout the defending conference champions.
On Thursday, she held Salve to three hits and no walks in seven innings. She has now given up 10 hits, allowed one earned run, walked two and struck out 14 in three tournament games.
Her performance has settled the team, Gott said.
“Kelly’s been lights out,” she said. “If the pitcher is doing well then that relaxes the rest of the team more.”
Letellier said UNE has been playing loosely and getting production in the lineup from every player.
For example, No. 9 hitter Adrienne Chase had three hits and knocked in four runs in the win against Salve. She is batting .500 in the tournament.
Gott is leading the team with a .636 average in the tournament while Erin Grover, Jessica Potter and Megan Gauger are batting .333, .333 and .300 respectively. Grover has also hit a home run. As a team, UNE is hitting .294.
“Everybody in our lineup is just making solid contact,” Letellier said. “I was talking to our coaches and said that sometimes it’s scary how good we can be and we were just in awe of what we were seeing.”
UNE won its only conference title in 2000.
It will play today at 2 p.m. as Endicott and Salve play the elimination game at noon time. The games were originally scheduled for 10 a.m. and noon, but rain has forced them back.
Either way, Gott said the team is excited and ready to go.
“It’s a huge deal for us,” Gott said. “We knew, going into this season, we had a good chance of winning. We’ve been playing well and we have high hopes for (today).”
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