ORONO — The University of Maine softball team left no doubt Saturday.

The Black Bears stormed past Albany 14-1 in five innings to capture the America East championship and earn an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.

The pairings for the national tournament will be given at 10 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU.

Maine won all three of its games in the tournament, outscoring its opponents 24-5.

On Saturday, Maine took a 4-0 lead in the first inning and led 11-0 after three.

Janelle Bouchard, the America East player of the year, had an RBI single to put across the first run before Felicia Lennon, Alyssa Derrick and Kristen Niland followed with run-scoring singles.

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In the second, Bouchard made it 6-0 with a two-run homer.

In the third, Rachel Carlson and Rachel Harvey had RBI doubles, and Erika Leonard, Bouchard and Lennon added RBI singles. Leonard had a three-run double in the fourth to make it 14-0.

Junior pitcher Erin Bogdanovich of South Portland, the America East pitcher of the year, allowed four hits and improved to 9-0 against America East competition. She was named the outstanding player of the tournament and was joined on the all-tournament team by Bouchard, Lennon and Leonard.

BASEBALL

MAINE, STONY BROOK SPLIT: Kevin Stypulkowski’s second-inning homer down the right-field line made it 1-1 before Colin Ridley singled home Jeremy Pena in the third as Maine (18-30, 7-12 America East)won the opener 2-1 at Orono.

Stony Brook (21-24, 10-8) came back for an 8-1 victory in the second game.

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MEN’S TENNIS

BOWDOIN 5, NICHOLS 0: Kyle Wolfe and Jerry Jiang opened Bowdoin’s second-round play in the NCAA Division III tournament with an 8-0 victory against Nichols in second doubles at Brunswick.

Luke Tercek and Luke Trinka followed with an 8-1 win in first doubles before Chase Savage and Gil Roddy earned an 8-3 win at third doubles. Grant Urken and Roddy added singles wins to clinch the victory for the Polar Bears.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

BOWDOIN 5, TUFTS 1: Tess Trinka won her singles match 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to clinch Bowdoin’s victory in the NCAA Division III regional final at Brunswick. The Polar Bears advance to the national quarterfinals May 23 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Tufts won the first match, with Conner Calabro and Tomo Iwasaki downing Kyra Silith and Pilar Giffenig, 8-2. The Polar Bears tied it with an 8-3 doubles win by Trinka and Samantha Stalder. Joulia Likhanskaia and Tiffany Cheng then gave Bowdoin the lead for good, winning 8-6 as Likhanskaia held serve at 6-6 before the Polar Bears broke for a 2-1 overall lead.

Stadler and Sarah Shadowens also won singles matches for Bowdoin.


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