BANGOR, Maine — The Bangor High School softball team stunned defending state Class A champ and previously undefeated Skowhegan 15-1 on Friday.
And the bats picked up where they left off against Mt. Blue of Farmington in a makeup game on Tuesday.
The Rams unleashed a 12-hit attack for the second straight game, and senior right-hander Skylar Cassum tossed a one-hitter as the Rams topped the Cougars 12-0. The game was called in the bottom of the sixth because of the 12-run rule.
Cassum and Emily Gilmore homered for Bangor, which is 8-1 and received hits from nine different players.
Mt. Blue fell to 3-5.
“We carried a lot of the momentum from the Skowhegan game into this game. We’ve been hitting really well lately,” said Bangor junior center fielder Gilmore, who also had a single and drove in two runs.
“We’ve been more aggressive. We’ve stopped thinking too much. We’ve been swinging freely,” she added.
“We’ve just been keeping our eyes on the ball and hitting it,” said Cassum.
“They did a great job offensively,” said Mt. Blue coach Chuck Wallace. “They were extremely comfortable in the batter’s box.”
In addition to Gilmore, senior first baseman Cordelia Stewart and sophomore second baseman Megan Conner also had two hits. Each had a double and a single, and Conner knocked in three runs. Jenna Bishop and Sydni Cosgrove had doubles, and Bishop had an RBI.
The Rams wasted little time building a comfortable lead as they parlayed six hits and a walk into seven first-inning runs.
Cosgrove started the rally with a long opposite-field double to right center, and Gilmore delivered her with a ground-ball single to left center.
Gilmore raced around to third on the throw to the plate and scored on a wild pitch.
Stewart doubled to right and scored on Sarah Bragg’s sharp single to left.
Emily Reilly walked and worked a double steal with Bragg.
Conner’s grounder back to pitcher Caitlin Kane scored Bragg, and Kylie Cunningham’s single knocked in Reilly.
Cassum capped the rally with a long two-run homer to left center. It was her first homer of the season.
“We came out swinging,” said Stewart. “We wanted to get as many runs as we could [early].”
Gilmore’s fourth homer of the season, a shot to left center field, triggered a two-run rally in the second, and Bangor added two in the fourth and one in the sixth.
Right-hander Cassum pitched a masterpiece, allowing just an opposite-field single to right by Addie Brinkman with two outs in the first.
She struck out 12 through six innings, giving her 26 strikeouts over her last 11 innings.
She didn’t walk anyone and threw just 67 pitches, including 53 strikes.
“She was probably the fastest pitcher we’ve seen this year,” said Mt. Blue junior shortstop Lauren Guppy. “She was pretty decent. She worked us up the ladder, and we were swinging at them.”
“I had all of my pitches working today. I just had a [good] day,” said Cassum, who throws a fastball, drop, rise ball and changeup and improved to 7-1.
“Skylar did an awesome job,” said Stewart.
Sophomore Taylor Burke tossed 4 ⅔ innings of impressive four-hit, three-run relief for Mt. Blue.