BREWER — Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln averaged a healthy 12.3 runs per game during the 2015 softball season.
On Wednesday evening, the Lynx met their match in Bucksport pitcher Sami Goode.
The senior right-hander celebrated her 18th birthday by firing a three-hitter, and the Golden Bucks provided plenty of offensive support to earn a 6-2 victory in the Eastern Maine Class C softball championship game at Coffin Field.
“I give credit to the Bucksport pitcher. She did a great job,” said Mattanawcook Academy coach Dean Libbey.
“We just don’t face enough pitching like that, is what I think helped contribute to us losing here today,” he added.
Coach Mike Carrier’s second-seeded Golden Bucks (18-1) face Western Maine winner Telstar of Bethel in Saturday’s noon state championship game in Brewer.
The top-seeded Lynx closed out the season at 17-2.
Goode (18-1) was in command throughout, surrendering only a leadoff home run to Mattanawcook Academy pitcher Courtney McIntyre in the fourth and a run-scoring single by Kendra Thurlow in the sixth.
She featured a good mix of pitches and kept the Lynx off-balance.
“I threw a lot of fastballs and curveballs,” Goode said. “I just tried to work around the one as best I could.”
The Golden Bucks also kept the pressure on with the bats, racking up 12 hits against McIntyre (17-2), who had allowed more than one run in a game only four times this season.
Junior Tyler Dupont was the catalyst batting out of the No. 4 spot, collecting three singles, two of which ignited rallies. The Nos. 6-9 hitters responded with seven hits, including two apiece by Mady Robichaud, Goode and Kim Nason.
The Bucks said they benefitted from facing Calais ace Olivia Smith in the semifinals.
“She’s the only fast girl that we’ve faced, so we got lucky that we saw her before we saw this pitcher because she had some speed, but we got on her,” Dupont said.
Bucksport, which loaded the bases in the second inning but did not score, scored all the runs it would need in the fourth off McIntyre.
Dupont punched an opposite-field single to left, and Emily Hunt walked. One out later, Goode’s chopper resulted in a throwing error that produced a run.
Nason followed with an RBI single down the left-field line, and Kaylee Grindle pulled a double past third to make it 3-0.
“Those are my better hitters,” Carrier said of the Nos. 6-8 batters. “I’ve got my slappers, my bunters and draggers up on top. We hit well 1 through 10.”
Mattanawcook Academy made it 3-1 when McIntyre roped a homer to center in the fourth, but the Bucks came back with two runs in the fifth.
Dupont hit a one-out single to center, then Robichaud came up with two outs and stroked a single. Goode grounded a run-scoring single through the middle and Nason rapped a hard RBI single past third to make it a 5-1 lead.
“I’m just better down there,” Goode said. “When I’m batting No. 7 it’s just anything that I can put in play I’m helping people score.”
The Lynx posted a run in the sixth on a single by Thurlow, then the Bucks added one in the seventh on Nason’s sacrifice fly, her third RBI of the contest.
However, Mattanawcook Academy had trouble stringing hits together.
“[Sami] is amazing,” Dupont said. “She’s so good to have on the mound. We’re so lucky that we have her.”
Despite fielding only two seniors among 13 players, Bucksport believed it could win another championship.
“We’ve worked hard, but we kind of knew we’d make it back,” Nason said.
Even though it took a while for the Bucks to develop their chemistry, they have become a close-knit group.
“We knew that we had to be a family and work as a team and go get it,” Goode said.
Carrier continues to stress that Bucksport must take things one step at a time.
“We climb the ladder to get to the top,” he said. “One more rung.”
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