ORONO — Nine weeks after its bizarre odyssey began, the Maine softball team finally got to play a home game Saturday.

Ace pitcher Alexis Bogdanovich strode to the circle as the sun came out at Kessock Field and quickly set Stony Brook down in order. EmJ Fogel laced a two-run triple in the bottom of the inning, and the Black Bears were en route to a 4-2 victory, snapping a five-game losing streak to the Seawolves.

“That was a huge start for us, and to be our opening day and (have) a big crowd and a beautiful day, it was awesome,” Maine Coach Lynn Coutts said.

Stony Brook won the second game 4-0, but it hardly put a damper on a day that didn’t seem like it ever would arrive.

Maine (16-16, 5-3 America East Conference) headed south to play 24 games in the opening month of the season. Then came three weeks of annoying inactivity as the weather shredded the schedule. At one point the Black Bears found themselves in Baltimore for four days without playing a single game against Maryland-Baltimore County.

“We got up, we ate, we went and practiced, and then we went back to the hotel,” Coutts said.

Finally, with their home field still soggy from a winter that would not end, Maine traveled to Albany on April 5 to play what should have been a home series. The Black Bears won three games at Massachusetts-Lowell last weekend. Now they get their only six games in Orono. They’ll conclude the series with Stony Brook (20-13, 6-2) at 11 a.m. Sunday and are set to host Hartford next weekend.

“It’s been weird,” conceded Bogdanovich, a senior from South Portland who ran her record to 10-4. “Once we do finally get outside, it’s just that much more exciting. We definitely brought the energy (Saturday).”

Bogdanovich was staked to a 4-0 lead after two innings. But she ran into a little trouble after getting the first two outs of the fourth. Bria Green blasted her 16th home run of the season to left field. Shayla Giosia followed with another homer.

Bogdanovich was nonplussed, finishing with 12 strikeouts while allowing only one more hit.

“I threw a good pitch and she just killed it. What can you do about that?” Bogdanovich said of the Green home run.

“My mentality is a lot better this year in trying to get ahead on batters and make them chase. I know it’s my senior year so I’m just giving it all I’ve got.”

Fogel is of the same mind-set. She has become more selective at the plate, and it is paying off as she leads the Black Bears with a .323 average and 20 RBI. One of the team’s three captains, she is determined to not have a repeat of the disappointment of last year, when Maine missed out on the conference tournament after tying with UMBC for fourth place but losing a tiebreaker.

“I think making this year’s playoffs would mean more to the seniors than anything,” said Fogel, who is playing the outfield after being pressed into service as a catcher in her first three seasons. “I like to call us road warriors. We have to deal with a lot of things. Flights being canceled, flights being delayed. We’re always together but I think it’s made us stronger.”

Maine is determined to get in as many conference games as possible. So the Black Bears will travel to Stony Brook on April 29 to make up a doubleheader against UMBC before finishing the season with three games at Binghamton on May 1 and 2.

The tireless Bogdanovich, who is scheduled to start again Sunday, will hold the key.

“Her desire to be great and her desire to win is very strong,” Coutts said of her star pitcher. “Hitters know what’s coming but she can still get that ball to move and they chase it. That’s a really good place to be.”