LEWISTON — The long ball was working well for Leavitt in its road game Wednesday.
The Hornets drilled three home runs against Lewiston in a 13-3 KVAC softball victory at Joseph Deschenes Field.
Emily Poland hit one in the third inning, followed by Hailey Turcotte in the fifth and Maddie Dutil in the sixth, with the trio serving as catalysts for Leavitt’s big victory in Lewiston.
Hornets pitcher Abby Albert tossed a complete game, giving up just three runs on nine hits, striking out eight.
“She’s been coming on,” Leavitt coach Kevin Leonard said. “Very steady kid, a sophomore, and we’re very fortunate to have her. She’s starting to come into her own.”
In the first inning, Dutil drew a one-out walk, which was followed by a triple by Sam DeBlois that drove Dutil home for the first run of the game.
Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Mackenzie Anderson walked to open the frame for Lewiston and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Ahna Dostie. Charlotte Cloutier stepped into the batter’s box and quickly drilled a two-run, inside-the-park home run, beating the throw home and giving the Blue Devils a 2-1 advantage.
Lilly Chabot got the top-half of the third inning going for the Hornets with a one-out triple, followed by an RBI single from Dutil to tie the game at 2-2. DeBlois followed with a single to get two runners on for Albert, who drove in Dutil to put Leavitt ahead 3-2.
Next up was Poland, who smashed a long fly ball over the Lewiston left fielder’s head for a three-run home run that gave Leavitt a 6-2 lead.
Lewiston wasn’t able to get much going on offense after Cloutier’s homer, stranding a combined four runners in innings two through four. Albert struck out the side in the third inning.
Poland got the Leavitt bats going again in the top-half of the fifth inning with a one-out single. Sam Withee doubled to put two runners on for Turcotte, who hit her own long fly ball over the left fielder’s head for another three-run home run, putting the Hornets ahead 9-2.
“It was just something we’ve been working on for a couple months,” Leonard said. “With the warm weather, things are starting to boom. We knew we could hit but the cold, I don’t know what it was. But the bats are starting to wake up.”
Albert sat down Lewiston in order in the fifth and Lewiston relieved starter Brooklyn Mynahan with Ava Dionne to start the sixth.
“I knew my defense had me and I was just brave enough and I just did it,” Albert said. “I believed in myself that I could do it and fired it by the batter. Our defense was amazing and we hit, hit, hit and I was just so proud of our team.”
Dutil led off the sixth inning with a solo home run into right-center field that gave the Hornets a 10-2 lead. After the home run, Dionne settled in and got the next three batters out in order.
Albert gave up two base runners in the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs, but was able to force a pop out and escape the inning with Leavitt’s 10-2 lead intact.
In the top of the seventh, Withee and Turcotte both singled, bringing pinch hitter Lilly Anctil up to bat. The two baserunners attempted a double steal and the throw to third base went into left field, scoring Withee.
Anctil walked, which set up Grace Ouellette, who doubled into left field and scored Turcotte to put Leavitt up 12-2. An error at third with two outs scored Anctil to give Leavitt a 13-2 advantage heading into the bottom of the seventh.
“Leavitt just hit really well tonight,” Lewiston coach Ryan Cormier said. “Brooklyn hit her spots like she was supposed to but they just hit the ball. It’s just how it goes… The team’s done exactly what I’ve asked them to and they fight from the first pitch to the last pitch. We know there will be games that won’t go our way but we fight from the first to last pitch.”
Lewiston tacked on a run in the bottom of the seventh when Elissa Nadeau singled leading off and made her way around the bases to score on a fielder’s choice hit by Morgan Brown to make it 13-3.
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