AUGUSTA — There was a point in this softball season that Eliza Bedard figured her senior season would end sooner than later.
Her Skowhegan softball team was young and started the year 3-5, including a convincing loss to Oxford Hills and another to Edward Little.
But along the way, thing changed. The Indians started to put it together and a late surge to end the regular season provided the momentum for the postseason. Since then, Skowhegan has been picking off top seeds one at a time and Tuesday night it was Edward Little’s turn to have its championship hopes dashed as the Indians toppled the Red Eddies, 8-2.
“I never, ever, ever thought we’d get this far,” the Indians’ second baseman said. “We had such a young team. We went from being in 10th to being sixth and then we beat No. 3 and No. 2 and got to Northern Maine’s and won it.”
Skowhegan built the lead against the four-ranked Red Eddies early and never looked back in the six-run win at Cony High School. The Indians will play Biddeford for the state championship Saturday at St. Joseph’s College. Skowhegan won the state title there in 2014.
“It wasn’t our day,” EL coach Elaine Derosby said. “(Skowhegan coach) Lee (Johnson) always has his team playing for playoffs. They’re always ready. We haven’t faced Sydney (Ames). We faced her for two innings and that was a long time ago.”
Ames, a freshman pitcher scattered six hits and struck out five. Bedard had a hit and drove in three runs. Lindsey Warren drove in a pair while Ashley Alward and Bonnie-Jane Aiken each had a pair of hits and drove in a run.
Derosby said Ames’ pitching performance wasn’t unlike that of her sister Nicole (Keene) Chapman, who pitched EL to the state title in 1997 as a freshman.
“She’s a freshman that has no idea,” Derosby said. “We had one of those back in 1997. We had a freshman with no idea. (Ames) pitched three tournament games really well.”
EL (13-6) got two hits from Kylie Bureau and Maddie Thistlewaite and Sarah Hammond drove in a pair of runs, but the Red Eddies couldn’t match the Skowhegan offense. The Indians got timely hits while EL stranded nine runners.
“They had the hits they needed to and we didn’t,” Derosby said. “It wasn’t for a lack of effort.”
Skowhegan (11-7) also never allowed EL to produce a big inning. The Indians had a couple of errors but otherwise were solid in the field and got out of innings when EL threatened.
“We made the plays we needed to make,” Johnson said. “We gave ourselves a chance. Sydney got ahead in the count a lot. We stayed away from the innings where you make mistakes. That’s the recipe that hurt us earlier in the year. We’ve done a better job eliminating a lot of that stuff.”
After two scoreless innings, Skowhegan threatened in the third by loading the bases with none out. Hammond and the Red Eddies were fortunate to escape only down 2-0. Bedard walked in the first run and a Julia Steeves sacrifice fly plated the second.
The Indians have just three seniors and a roster made up of five sophomores and eight freshmen, but they were never nervous.
“We knew we couldn’t be nervous,” Bedard said. “We had to keep our heads in the game and had to do what we could do.”
EL got one back in the bottom of the inning when Hammond’s bunt plated Olivia Jensen, but EL stranded two in that inning. Skowhegan added to the lead with four runs in the fourth. Warren had a two-run single to make it 4-1 and then Bedard delivered another two-run hit for a 6-1 lead. That chased Hammond and brought in Bureau. The junior pitched well over the last three-plus innings.
“We hit the ball very well and that’s what we done the last three games,” Bedard said.
A downpour and delay of a half hour came after the sixth inning was complete. Skowhegan added two more runs in the seventh when Alward doubled in a run. Aiken followed with an RBI single. EL scored its second run in the bottom of the seventh. Hammond doubled in Taylor Depot, who had a defensive highlight for EL with a diving catch at short.
It was the first trip to the regional for EL since back-to-back state titles in 1996 and 1997. Losing only Hammond and infielder Karli Stubbs, the Red Eddies have a seasoned club returning.
“I just told them that at the beginning of the season, I had no doubt that we would be here,” Derosby said. “The last two weeks of the season, I still, internally, had no doubt that we’d be here. For two weeks, they believed in what we’ve been doing and they got here.”
One of the highlights of EL’s tourney run was upsetting No. 1 seeded Messalonskee, the defending Class A state champion.
“It was special,” Derosby said. “To do this with my sister and my Dad (assistant coach Gene Keene) and (assistant) Coach (Norm) Ford, to have the coaching staff that we did that could give these kids that passion about softball in a community where it maybe hasn’t been for awhile, it was special. Today just wasn’t our day. They’ve scored 22 runs in the tournament, which is exactly what they did during their state championship run the last time.”
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