LEWISTON – It didn’t take long to determine which team was ready for action Monday afternoon.
The Deering softball team came out with some aggressive play in the opening inning while the Lewiston squad sputtered. Before the game was one inning old, the Rams were up 3-0 and that would be all Deering needed in a 4-0 win.
“We’d been playing good ball,” said Lewiston coach Fred Royer. “We’ve been playing solid defense. We’ve had a good stretch. We had four games last week, and the kids have been playing well. When you have a tough Deering team coming off two defeats, they made some things happen in that first inning.”
Deering (8-4) produced four hits and took advantage of a pair of Lewiston errors. By the time the dust settled, Lewiston (9-4) was in the hole three runs and never recovered. Deering got a solid outing from Kelly Durgin and a strong defensive showing from the Rams. Durgin allowed just two hits and struck out six batters.
“She pitched a good game,” said Royer. “She struggled at times, but she got us to hit the ball to the right side of the infield quite bit. It was a good solid performance by her.”
Katie Morin had a hit in the first, and Kim Bechard had an infield hit in the seventh to account for most of Lewiston’s offense. The Blue Devils had only one runner past second until the seventh. Lewiston loaded the bases in the seventh with two outs but came up empty.
“We got the first out in every inning,” said Deering coach Tighe Curran. “What a difference that makes when you’re not putting their first runner on base. You take away a lot of things for them.”
Lewiston was also playing with a revamped lineup. Between injuries and ineligibility, the Blue Devils were down a pair of starters and had to juggle the defense.
Deering threatened right away as Regina Flaherty reached on an infield hit. Amanda Caiazzo had a single off pitcher Shannon Godin’s glove. Both runners advanced when Lewiston held the ball in the infield, unaware the runners were on the move. After Gina Axelson drew a walk, Stephanie Gildart singled in a run to score Flaherty. Kristie Hawkins followed with a bloop single beyond the drawn-in infield scoring Caiazzo. The ball was bobbled in the outfield, allowing Axelson to score from second.
“Their pitcher was a little wild,” said Curran. “We got a couple of hits when we needed it. We executed a couple of things. The short game worked pretty well for us today.”
In the bottom of the inning, Lewiston had two runners on with two outs but a baserunning mistake ended the threat. Lewiston had just three baserunners, on two walks and a Deering error, through the next five innings.
In the sixth, Deering put a pair of bunts and some fine baserunning to use. Tracie Wiles scored on a Tania Joy bunt toward first.
“We’ve got an athletic team,” said Curran. “The girls have played more than one sport. They’re pretty good athletes. We have pretty good speed, and we can do a couple of things on the bases.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
