LINCOLN, Maine — It wasn’t a day fit for man or beast, but the windy and eventually rainy conditions that swept through Mattanawcook Academy’s softball field didn’t bother Tayla Trask or any of her teammates.
“I try not to let it bother me, I just take it one pitch at a time. I can’t control that so I’ve got to focus on what I can control,” the sophomore righthander said after her Lynx defeated John Bapst of Bangor 7-0 on a cold, raw Thursday afternoon.
Trask, who threw a perfect game against the Crusaders recently, was sharp right from the outset, allowing only two hits while walking none, striking out 18 and retiring the first 12 Bapst batters she faced.
While Trask was mowing down the Crusaders, Mattanawcook’s offense had one of its better games so far this spring, as the Lynx hit the ball sharply and capitalized on a few Bapst miscues.
“It’s one of those [games] that we’ll learn from. We made some mistakes, but we know we can correct it,” said Bapst coach Shannon Whiting, whose club falls to 2-6 while Mattanawcook, the top team in the Eastern B Heal point ranks, is 9-0.
The Lynx got on the board with two runs in the third, with Rianne Gardner driving in a run on a groundout to short while Sierra Pierce walked and scored on an error after being caught in a rundown between third and home plate.
Mattanawcook put it away with a three-run uprising in the fifth, sparked by Brooke Hanscom’s RBI double down the left-field line.
“I thought we hit the ball a lot better than we did the last time we played John Bapst,” said junior catcher Amanda Gulesian.
Bapst ace Laura Jordan no-hit the Lynx in Mattanawcook’s 1-0 win on May 4 in Bangor.
“We stressed hitting and fast hands all week and I think we were ready and we knew that we could hit her,” Trask said. “She’s a great pitcher, but we knew that if we were patient and got our pitch, [we could hit her].”
Mattanawcook scored twice more in the sixth, with both runs coming on passed balls.
As she has done most of this season, Trask exhibited solid command and attacked the strike zone while establishing her riseball, which the Crusaders had a difficult time laying off.
“She’s tough and she stuck through [the elements], and this girl can pitch through anything,” Gulesian said.
Bapst foiled Trask’s bid for another perfect game at its expense as Jordan singled leading off the fifth while Abby Perkins singled to lead off the seventh.
“For us to come out in the seventh inning and still make contact and get on base, I think that’s a plus for us,” said Whiting, who has eight juniors and sophomores on her 14-player roster.
Even though Thursday’s conditions were better suited for flying kites than playing softball, the Lynx were able to harness all their energy toward the field.
“It was crazy, it was definitely windy but we did what we needed to do,” Trask said. “We established my riseball early in the game and kept going.”
MA’s Jessica Fortin was the game’s lone repeat hitter with a single in the second inning and a triple to the right-field fence in the fourth. Vinni Nesin singled and scored two runs.
