TURNER — It was a day of firsts for Leavitt freshman Hailey Cyr.
She made her first start in the circle in Leavitt’s 15-1, five-inning victory over Mt. Blue and only faced 11 batters in three innings of work. She had two strikeouts and only allowed one hit while another batter reached on an error.
“It was a little bit nerve-wracking going into it,” Cyr said of her first start. “After the first inning, I was more comfortable up there. I got in my groove after that.”
Cyr also kicked off an 11-run bottom of the third in style for Leavitt (8-2). On the first pitch she saw from Mt. Blue (1-9) pitcher Alyssa Simineau, Cry drove the ball to center field for her first varsity home run.
The pitch was not in the strike zone, according to Cyr, but that didn’t matter to her.
“It was a little bit outside, but it was the perfect height,” Cyr said. “I kind of stuck my bat out and it went flying.”
The solo shot gave Leavitt a 4-0 lead. Jordyn Boulay had a pinch-hit RBI double to extend the lead to 5-0. After a Maddy Dutil bunt brought home another run, Ashley Roy had a blast and two runs came home for an 8-0 lead after the center fielder dropped the ball on the potential flyout. Back-to-back RBI doubles by Sam Deblois and Nola Boutaugh extended the lead to 10-0. Simineau’s day ended after Boutaugh’s at-bat and McKella Ford relived Simineau.
Leavitt coach Kevin Leornard said the Hornets hadn’t played well on Saturdays recently.
“The past couple of Saturdays, we have struggled,” Leonard said. “Today, we came out and it took a little bit to get going, but we got it.”
Emily Poland had a two-run double while back-to-back RBI singles by Boulay and Dutil extended the Hornets’ lead to 14-0.
The big inning was just what Leavitt needed.
“It’s awesome, we have been struggling a little bit with hitting, but we finally got back at it,” Hornets sophomore Hailey Turcotte said.
Turcotte relieved Cyr to start the top of the fourth and sat the Cougars down in order.
Leavitt added one run in the fourth. Mt. Blue then answered with its lone run in the next frame.
Sadie Irish timed up Turcotte perfectly to lead off the top of the fifth by sending a double to the outfield. She scored on an Abby Farrington flyout to center. Turcotte got the following two batters out to end the game.
“You have to keep fighting; you can only control what you can control,” Mt. Blue coach Ron Smith said. “At the end, it was: ‘Hey, let’s keep playing until the officials say you can’t play anymore.'”
Leavitt scored its first run on a passed ball in the bottom of the first but left a couple of runners on base in the inning. Roy had an RBI single in the second and later scored on a double steal. Leavitt left a couple of runners on base in the second as well.
“We seem to be a big-inning team defensively,” Smith said. “We will play well in stretches and a lot of it is because we are young — we just need to play more together. At moments, we will play great four innings, and we will give up that big inning in the fifth or in the sixth. The next thing you know it goes from a respectable score to the game is out of hand.”
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