BRUNSWICK

A lot can be said about riding the momentum once a team figures out a pitcher after one time through the lineup.

On Saturday, Bowdoin College struggled through three innings, earning just two hits against Trinity pitcher Katherine Poulos in a battle of pitchers, with Polar Bear ace hurler Melissa DellaTorre holding the Bantams to one single as the teams headed to the fourth scoreless.

DellaTorre kept rolling, retiring Trinity 1-2-3 in the fourth, but Poulos wasn’t as fortunate, as the Polar Bears strung together five hits in the frame and added four runs on six singles in the fifth en route to a key 7-0 New England Small College Athletic Conference East Division victory at Pickard Field in the first game of a doubleheader.

In the second game, the Polar Bears built a 9-1 lead, but had to stave off a late rally by Trinity for a 13-5 sixinning win.

In the opener, DellaTorre fired a one-hit shutout with four strikeouts. At the plate, Casey Correa followed up her walk-off home run in Bowdoin’s 4-3 victory over Trinity on Friday with an RBI double to plate Amy Hackett for the opening game’s first run, and scored on a single by Hanna Wurgant to make it a 2-0 ballgame.

“ I told ( second baseman) Amy Hackett that if she was out there when I hit that ball that she would have probably made the play and ended the inning,” joked Correa of her RBI double. “ I have been working on staying relaxed and just going with the pitch, and that seems to be working for me right now.”

Bowdoin broke the game open in the fifth, getting singles from Caroline Dewar, Gen Barlow, Toni DaCampo, Hackett, Wurgaft and Courtney Colantuno to make it a 6-0 game through five. The Polar Bears finished the scoring in the sixth as Dewar, who was 3-for-4 and scored a pair of runs, came home on a sacrifice fly by DaCampo.

“We faced her (Poulos) yesterday, and she is very good with a great curveball, so we adjusted to it and started going with the pitch and hitting the ball to right field,” said Bowdoin coach Ryan Sullivan, whose team is slated to visit the University of Maine- Farmington on Tuesday. “We were loose after we got through the lineup the first time, and it seemed once we started getting some hits everyone followed. That is what this team does.”

DellaTorre was dominant, moving the ball around the plate in keeping Trinity offbalance.

“Melissa and I seem to have a good vibe, and she was definitely on today,” said Correa, the team’s catcher. “She was throwing very hard today, and moved the ball around the plate.”

“ That may be the best I have seen Melissa throw this year,” said Sullivan. “We had an inning where she allowed a hit and we made an error, but she doesn’t get rattled and made the pitches.”

Trinity received a single from Claire Prosperi to open the third inning. Kristina Yu dropped a bunt, with the throw to first bobbled for an error to put runners on first and second with no outs. Christina Galese dropped a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up a base, but Della- Torre induced an infield flyball, and former Mt. Ararat High School standout Miranda Riendeau- Card of Bowdoinham was retired on a groundball to shortstop.

Riendeau-Card was 0-for-2 with a walk.

Barlow, Hackett, Wurgaft and Colantuno had two hits apiece for Bowdoin, which finished with 14 hits.

Poulos struck out four Bowdoin hitters in four- plus innings of work, with reliever Lindsay Gibbons pitching the final two frames on three hits and one strikeout.

Bowdoin’s power

In the nightcap, Bowdoin blasted three home runs in the game and Barlow came within one RBI of the school record with six in the game. The juniorripped a two-run double in the first frame and delivered a grand slam in the fourth. DaCampo had a solo shot in the fourth as well, while Correa lofted a threerun blast in the sixth.

Riendeau- Card had a homer for Trinity, while Amelia Mostovoy had two hits in the loss. Katerina Kolbe earned the loss by allowing nine earned runs for Trinity. DellaTorre picked up the win for Bowdoin with 1.1 innings of relief of Tricia Thibodeau, who went 4.2 frames and allowed three earned runs.

Friday’s game

On Friday, DaCampo hit a two- out, game- tying home run in the bottom of the seventh, and Correa slammed a walk- off home run in the eighth to lead Bowdoin to a dramatic 4-3 win over Trinity.

Hackett got Bowdoin on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first, singling up the middle to score Barlow.

Trinity answered in the top of the second on a solo home run by Riendeau- Card and took the lead in the top of the third when Kerry McCarthy doubled home Galese.

Bowdoin rallied to even the score 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth when Correa tripled down the right-field line to plate Hackett, but the Bantams regained the lead in the fifth when Prosperi hit a solo home run to give the visitors a 3-2 edge.

Trinity appeared poised to take game one of the weekend set after Barlow was caught stealing for the second out in the seventh. But, DaCampo ripped a 3- 1 pitch over the fence in left-center field to send the game to extra frames.

After DellaTorre retired Trinity in the top of the eighth, Correa led off the bottom of the frame with a long drive to left, giving Bowdoin the walk-off win. Correa had three hits, while DaCampo reached base three times. Hackett chipped in two hits.

Riendeau-Card led Trinity with two hits.

DellaTorre earned the win by scattering six hits over eight innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out eight. Poulos allowed four earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts.