Oxford Hills’ Ashley Childs slides into third base as Lewiston’s Jordan Mynahan catches the ball during Wednesday afternoon’s game in South Paris. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
PARIS — Lewiston started off with a chance to score, only for Oxford Hills to shut that opportunity down.
The Vikings never let the Blue Devils get going again, and delivered what amounted to a knock-out punch in the second inning of 7-0 victory in a Class A North softball game at Gouin Athletic Complex on Wednesday.
“They had us right in the first inning,” Vikings coach Cindy Goddard said. “I mean, they had runners in scoring position and we didn’t let a run go in, that’s kind of a nice tempo to start the game with.”
Jordyn Rubin led off the game with a walk, then Gemma Landry followed with a single through the left side of a drawn-in infield. A Meagan Gosselin sacrifice bunt put the runners at second and third, but Vikings pitcher Lauren N. Merrill induced a pair of groundouts — the first one right back to her — to get out of the early jam.
“It takes Lauren sometimes the first couple batters to just kind of settle in, and then when it comes to right down to it, she’s a competitor,” Goddard said.
Blue Devils coach Mike Child said not scoring in the first “hurt.”
“I mean, when you’re looking at first and second with no outs, and we can’t get a run in, we got a problem,” Child said.
Lewiston didn’t get a runner to second again until the seventh inning, and by then it was too late.
The Vikings made their own noise on offense in the bottom of the first. Ashley Childs led off with a single, then moved to second on Madison Starbird’s sacrifice bunt. A wild pitch put her at third, and two batters later Kenzie Kahkonen came up with a two-out, RBI single to drive in the game’s first run.
The Oxford Hills offense only got louder in the second. Kaisa Heikkinen opened with a single, then came home on Haley Dillingham’s double. Kori Kahkonen followed with a home run to straightaway center to make it 4-0, signaling the end of Meg Theriault’s start for Lewiston.
“She’s just struggling, and we have to figure it out,” Child said.
Dani Cyr came on in relief and gave up an infield single and two bunt singles to load the bases, but she picked up a big strikeout before inducing a groundout to avoid any further damage.
“I think the home run early on — well the hit that was deep to the fence and the home run, that kind of silenced Lewiston a little bit,” Goddard said.
“That just took our sails right out,” Child said.
The Vikings didn’t slow down against Cyr. A lead-off double by Merrill, a single by Heikkinen and a sacrifice fly from Dillingham scored another run in the third. A hit-by-pitch and an error paved the way for Brooke Carson to drive in a run with two outs in the fifth.
“It’s always good when you kind of have them make them take their first pitcher out. And then yeah, to have the second pitcher come in and just keep on hitting, that was a nice piece,” Goddard said.
“Sometimes that just shuts things down, when that second pitcher comes in, but they were determined today,” assistant Dan Daniels said. “They had a good batting practice. We knew that they were ready.”
Three straight two-out singles in the sixth scored the Vikings’ final run, then Makayla Starbird had the final hit — which hit Cyr in the hand as she tried to cover her leg. Cyr exited the game and Theriault came back into the circle to get the final out of the frame.
“All I can do is hope that everything’s all right there,” Child said.
Jordan Mynahan tried to get one last rally started in the top of the seventh with a lead-off single against reliever Sydney Crocker, and Madison Mercier followed two batters later with a walk, but Crocker got a strikeout and a force-out to end the game.
“We didn’t come to play. I don’t know what happened,” Child said. “They’re just a (heck) of a hitting team. Let’s give them credit. They hit the ball well. They’re well-coached.”
“We’ve been ready because the last couple years when we’ve played Lewiston we haven’t fared so well, or it’s been a close game and we haven’t got on the side that we want to be on,” Goddard said, “and so we’ve been talking about how good Lewiston’s going to be and it’s going to be a good matchup, and they came prepared and ready to go.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Lewiston’s Emily Mousseau is out on a double play at first base as Oxford Hills’ Brooke Carson completes the play during Wednesday afternoon’s game in South Paris.(Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)Oxford Hill’s Lauren Merrill hits the ball during Wednesday afternoon’s game in South Paris. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
Oxford Hills’ Brooke Carson attempts to get back to third base past Lewiston’s Jordan Mynahan at a game in South Paris on Wednesday afternoon. Carson was called out.(Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
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