AUGUSTA, Maine — The pressure games have come and gone, and now it’s time to have some fun.
That was evident at Thursday’s Maine Softball Coaches Association All-Star games at Cony High School. The event had players showcasing not only their softball talents, but their dancing talents to the music blaring between innings.
With a powerful lineup and talented pitching, the Western Maine Class A-B stars cruised to a 14-1 victory in eight innings in a game called because of a 1-hour, 45-minute time limit.
The West C-D stars won the 5-2 in the first of the two contests.
The games were sponsored by the Maine Softball Coaches Association and the Frozen Ropes training facility in Portland.
In the A-B game, the West got off to a quick start, scoring four runs in the game’s first two innings while Fryeburg Academy’s Hannah Hill and Cape Elizabeth’s Tricia Thibodeau stifled the East batters.
Even though the East would collect only four hits on the night, team members still had smiles on their faces in a game that’s more about having a good time.
“Us Easterns, we ripped it up in here, we had the most fun ever,” said Bangor’s Erin Dean, who legged out an infield single.
Speaking of ripping things up, Scarborough’s Catie Funk showed off her power, blasting a two-run home run to left field in the second inning.
“It was perfect for me. [The coaches] told me I might not get a good pitch,” said Funk, who knew her blast had cleared the fence right off the ping of the bat.
“It’s just the way it comes off the bat,” she said.
Hill, who was named Miss Maine Softball in between games, worked two perfect innings and struck out four while Cape’s Thibodeau fanned three in her two innings of work.
“We were pretty stacked with the pitching,” said Funk. “I’m glad I didn’t have to hit against our pitchers.”
The East’s other hitters were Cony’s Chelsea Soule, who laid down a bunt single and scored on the same play after an errant throw in the fourth, and Kristen Espling of Caribou, who also singled.
In the C-D game, pitching was the right recipe once again for the West as five hurlers combined to scatter two runs — both coming on bases-loaded walks in the bottom of the ninth — on six hits.
Candice Hall of Telstar of Bethel was particularly stout, pitching three strong innings to start the game while playing an even more vital role later on.
The West got on the board first in the top of the third, as Danica Barrow of Sacopee Valley of Hiram worked a leadoff walk and eventually scored on a dropped popup off the bat off Old Orchard Beach’s Katie Collard.
Telstar’s Whitney Mills drove in the West’s second run in the fifth, lacing an RBI double to deep left.
There would be no more scoring until the eighth, when OOB’s Lindsie Sanders led off with a double and scored on a long triple to center — which just missed being a home run — by Liz Hall of Georges Valley of Thomaston.
Hall scored on the same play on an errant throw.
Emily Boivin of Georges Valley scored the West’s final run in the ninth, reaching on an error and scoring on a wild pitch.
The East threatened in the ninth, as three straight walks loaded the bases with nobody out while Tessa Clark and Courtney Hill of Calais worked consecutive walks to bring the potential winning run to the plate.
But Telstar’s Hall came back on and fanned the final two East hitters to end it.
Toni Cole of Calais and Suzanne Poulin of Ashland singled in the second for the East, along with Lainey Herring of Houlton. The team’s other hits, all singles, came from Kellie Peers of Limestone, Lona Sargent of Sumner of East Sullivan and Penquis of Milo’s Erica Lyford.
(Classes C-D Game)
West 001 010 021 — 5 5 1
East 000 000 002 — 2 6 3
C. Hall, L. Hall (4), Allen (7), C. Hall (9) and Murphy, LeBlanc (3), Sanders (5); Lyford, Eastman (4), Clark (6), Sargent (8), Carver (9) and Herring, Beal (4), Herring (7), Beal (9)
(Classes A-B Game)
East 000 100 00 — 1 3 3
West 130 043 11 — 14 12 1
Jurczak, Vannah (2), Gauger (3), Trott (4), Levesque (5), Gardiner (6), Jurczak (7), Vannah (8) and Fisher, Cloutier (3), Lenor (5), Jackson (7); Hill, Thibodeau (3), Crowe (5), Burke (7) and Tripp, Martin (3), Provencher (5), Roberts (7)
