GORHAM — Hits were scarce and runs were even more rare. So every scoring opportunity was crucial in Tuesday’s Class A softball state championship game at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham.
“We knew it was going to be a battle between the two pitchers,” Oxford Hills coach Cindy Goddard said. “And it was (going to be) who took advantage of some walks or some errors, and at this point, that’s what it comes down to.”
Windham capitalized on more of its chances and shut down one of Oxford Hills’ best opportunities to earn a 3-1 victory and the Class A title.
“There’s so many emotions. A lot of the girls are like, ‘We just won?’ It doesn’t feel real yet,” Windham junior pitcher Brooke Gerry said.
The state championship is Windham’s first in Class A and second overall. The Eagles won a Class B title in 1995.
Gerry, who has been named the Maine Gatorade Player of the Year two consecutive years, finished with 11 strikeouts. Oxford Hills freshman Kyeria Morse struck out six batters. Both pitchers allowed four hits.
All of the runs were scored in the early innings before the two pitchers settled in.
Oxford Hills’ Miah Gallan led off the game with a walk and moved to third on an error. She scored the game’s first run when Kaydence Morse laid down a perfect bunt that spun in front of the plate. Morse also reached base safely.
The Vikings (18-2) almost added another run. They probably would have if someone other than senior Hannah Heanssler was playing center field for Windham.
After Kaydence Morse’s bunt, Oxford Hills’ next batter, Kyeria Morse, hit the ball hard to center field with runners at the corners, and Heanssler made perhaps the most important play of the game when she tracked down the ball and dove to make the catch.
“That was amazing,” Gerry said. “Hannah’s been lights-out all year. That catch really set the tone for us the rest of the game.”
Darcey Gardiner is only in her first year as Windham’s coach, but she knows to expect those types of plays from Heanssler.
“First of all, I have never met a more athletic girl,” Gardiner said. “… Every day in practice, she wants us to hit her balls that she can dive for, that she can rob home runs for. She practices every day to make catches like that. She was ready for it.”
Even Kyeria Morse wasn’t surprised.
“Not really,” Morse said. “I saw her go for it, and I know who it is, she’s a really good player. She’s a good ball player, so I didn’t expect less.”
Gerry was able to get out of the top of the first with only a 1-0 deficit.
Windham (18-2) responded by scoring twice without any hits in the bottom of the first. Gerry, the leadoff hitter, reached on an error and then scored from third on a passed ball. Stella Jarvais later came home on a sacrifice fly to right field by Kennedy Kimball, giving the Eagles a 2-1 lead.
Vikings freshmen Cam Mayhan and Attie Campbell each singled in the second inning, but Gerry got the next two batters to retire the side. Gerry then pitched three consecutive three-up, three-down innings.
The Eagles added an insurance run in the bottom of the third. Jaydyn Kimball’s hit bounced off Kyeria Morse’s leg and into right field. Gerry scored to extend Windham’s lead to 3-1, but Addie Caiazzo was thrown out at home.
Kyeria Morse’s three strikeouts in the fourth overruled singles by Windham’s Oakley McLeod and Chloe Edwards. Then Morse pitched a three-up, three-down inning in the fifth and worked around an error in the sixth.
The Vikings’ freshman ace said she wasn’t fazed by pitching in a big game.
“Pretty good,” she said of her performance. “I could have done better. But I’ve been there before, just like on my travel team, we went down to nationals and won that. It’s just, you’ve got to go in there, relax, and just throw the ball.”
Oxford Hills did have one more scoring chance in the top of the sixth. Kyeria Morse reached on a two-out single, and then pinch runner Sam McPhail advanced to third when Charlotte McGreevy reached on an error, but Gerry once again shut down that threat.
“I think if we could have maybe scored another run in that first inning, it might have been a different story, but, you know, it was a battle,” Goddard said. “Even up until the end, a base hit here and there, and all of a sudden, two runs happen, you know.”
The Vikings will lose a pair of key players to graduation, catcher Kaydence Morse and center fielder Miah Gallan, both starters. But they also will return most of the squad, including many underclassmen who played key roles on this year’s Class A North championship team. Oxford Hills started four freshmen and two sophomores in Tuesday’s state final.
Gardiner, who previously coached at Gray-New Gloucester, said that winning the state title is a reward for a season of hard work by the Eagles.
“You know, from the outside looking in, people see a really talented group,” Gardiner said. “But from the inside looking out, the hard work, the dedication, the trust that they had in each other — no one ever sees that inside work.
“So this is — you can probably tell by my emotions, this was just the icing on the cake. You finally feel like you can breathe now.”
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