Kelsey Murphy of Winthrop (St. Dom’s) will compete with the Notre Dame women’s rowing team in today’s Big East conference championship races at Mercer Lake in New Jersey.

In her final tune-up on April 28, Murphy, a junior, helped crew the Fighting Irish’s third varsity eight to victory over Iowa and Rutgers.

The third varsity eight won the conference title in 2011 with Murphy on board.

Murphy, a four-sport athlete in high school, had no competitive rowing experience prior to Notre Dame.

ARMED AND READY

Nick Douglass’ lively left arm kept the top-seeded University of Southern Maine baseball team alive this past week in the Little East tournament.

Douglass, a junior from Poland, struck out a career-high 10 in 4 2/3 innings to help USM beat Umass-Boston, 5-2, in an elimination bracket game.

He fanned the side in the seventh and ninth innings. The win improved Douglass’ record to 4-1.

As USM’s closer for most of the season, Douglass has notched six saves while allowing only 21 hits in just under 40 innings of work. His ERA is a staff-best 1.59, and his 62 strikeouts also are tops on the Huskies at a staggering clip of more than 14 per nine innings.

David Ricker, a senior outfielder from Winthrop, has started every game for Southern Maine. Through the UMass-Boston contest, Ricker was hitting .359 with five home runs and 32 RBIs. He leads the Huskies with 17 stoles bases and 13 doubles while legging out six triples.

Catcher Matt Verrier of Norway (Oxford Hills), a sophomore transfer from the University of Maine, hot .223 with 15 RBIs in his first season on the Gorham campus.

HIRING AND EXPANDING

Central Maine Community College has named two new coaches with strong local ties.

Edward Little alumnus Chris Reed will take over the baseball program, while longtime Lewiston coach Tom Fournier will head up an all-new men’s lacrosse program.

Reed pitched for the Red Eddies’ Class A state championship team in 1992 before playing Division I ball at Central Connecticut State. Fournier led the Blue Devils to 72 wins in seven seasons, including a 2006 regional title. He has been an assistant at Bates the past five years.

Lacrosse will begin play as a spring sport in 2013.

STRONG SEASON

Also at CMCC, the softball team recently finished as runner-up in the Yankee Conference, losing 5-3 to rival Southern Maine CC in the title game.

Candace Hall of Bethel (Telstar) was named top defensive player in the tournament. She was the winning pitcher in a 9-1 semifinal verdict over New Hampshire Tech.

Hall pitched two shutouts during the spring campaign.

Magan Blais, an Oak Hill graduate, was named Miss CMCC Softball, symbolic of the team MVP.

SPEED MERCHANT

Gray-New Gloucester product Ben Miklovich chalked up four all-conference honors for Wheaton College in the recent NEWMAC championship meet.

Miklovich won the 100-meter dash and was runner-up by three-hundredths of a second to a teammate in the 200. He also was a member of the victorious 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams.

Now a junior, Miklovich shared in a 4×400 NCAA Division III national championship in 2010.

SPRING FORWARD

Muriel Schwinn, a junior from Auburn (Edward Little), placed fifth in the long jump for Hamilton College at the New York state championship meet for women’s track and field.

Schwinn won the same event at Hamilton’s own invitational meet last month.

koakes@sunjournal.com