Keagen Alley of Lawrence beats the tag from Edward Little High School pitcher Kylie Bureau during the sixth inning in Auburn on Thursday. The run put the Bulldogs up 2-0.
AUBURN — Playoff wins are earned.
The runs that win them don’t have to be.
Lawrence’s underdog run through the Class A North softball tournament continued Wednesday, with the Bulldogs scoring two unearned runs in a 2-0 victory over Edward Little at Sweetser Field.
“We made a lot of mistakes at the beginning of the year,” Lawrence senior pitcher Lilly Herrin said, “and now we got to execute and be the team that won on mistakes.”
Wednesday’s quarterfinal was scoreless heading into the fifth inning, with the No. 10 Bulldogs (10-8) compiling just two hits and the second-seeded Red Eddies (12-5) just one.
Lawrence picked up its third hit of the game two batters into the of the fifth, a single up the middle by Molly Folsom. That came after Haley Holt led off by reaching on an error. Holt hustled her way to third on Folsom’s hit, beating the relay throw from center.
Gretta Knowlton’s slow grounder up the first-base line was put in just the right spot to score Holt.
Herrin provided her own run support in the top of the sixth. She hit a deep fly to right with one out, and made it to third on another EL error.
“I was watching. I thought she was going to catch it, and when I saw it getting to her glove I was taking that turn,” Herrin said. “And as soon as I knew it hit the ground, usually in right field I can make it to (third). So I kept going … and gave it some more hustle and got there.”
Herrin then came home on a wild pitch to complete the scoring.
“They deserved to win this game,” EL coach Elaine Derosby said. “They put the ball in play when they had to, they ran the bases when they had to, and they just made plays when they have to. We just, we didn’t. And they forced us to make those mistakes.”
The Red Eddies had chances to respond to both of the Bulldogs’ run-scoring innings.
In the bottom of the fifth, Emmy Lashua led off with a infield single deep in the hole to short, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and third on a groundout. But Herrin halted the threat by picking up one of her seven strikeouts.
The Bulldogs then made their only two errors of the game while holding onto that 2-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth. Caroline Hammond hit a slow grounder down the first-base line to lead off for EL, and a close play at first was made moot when the throw from Herrin was dropped.
A fielding error two batters later on Taylor Depot’s soft liner put two runners on with just one out. Herrin again got out of the jam, inducing a pop up on a bunt and a fielder’s choice groundout.
“She threw well,” Derosby said. “We talked about what her strategy was yesterday, and it was the same strategy today. High pitches, inside pitches, outside pitch on the third strike, and we just didn’t make those adjustments today.”
Herrin worked around a one-out single by Anna LeBlanc in the bottom of the seventh to finish out the upset victory.
“Lilly’s come to play. Lilly doesn’t want to stop,” Lawrence coach Joey Marcoux said. “What an effort today.”
Herrin was on point from the start. She singled off EL starter Kylie Bureau in the top of the first, then struck out three batters in the bottom of the first to negate Olivia Jensen’s two-out single.
Herrin said that the opening frame gave her momentum. That the Bulldogs couldn’t translate that into offense “was killing” a Lawrence team that wanted another upset victory after knocking off No. 7 Messalonskee on Tuesday.
Bureau, meanwhile, was matching Herrin in the circle. The Red Eddies senior allowed just two hits while striking out three batters through the first four innings. She finished with just three hits allowed and no walks.
“She struggled a little bit a couple weeks ago, and we refocused her, and she pitched every pitch that we asked her to pitch,” Derosby said. “She did what she needed to do, and not that we made a lot of mistakes behind her, but we didn’t go above and beyond. And when it’s playoff time, you need to go above and beyond what you’ve done before. Still playing within yourself, but you need to go above and beyond, and we just didn’t take that step today.”
The Bulldogs have gone farther than anybody outside their dugout thought they would, according to Herrin. That run will continue into the semifinals against No. 3 Oxford Hills.
“We’re OK,” Marcoux said. “We got nothing to lose. We’re the No. 10 team.”
“We’re finally coming alive and playing like the team we should have been at the beginning of the season,” Herrin said.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Grace Beaudet of Edward Little High School reacts to getting called out on strikes during the fourth inning against Lawrence on Wednesday. The Red Eddies lost 2-0.
Anna LeBlanc of Edward Little High School lays down a bunt against Lawrence in Auburn on Thursday.
Lawrence High School fans celebrate after Lilly Herrin reached third base on an error during the sixth inning against Edward Little High School on Thursday.
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