BREWER, Maine — Having seen a 5-2 lead reduced to 5-4, the Brewer High School Witches felt they needed some insurance runs in Monday’s softball game against archrival Bangor.
And sophomore shortstop Emily Lord delivered.
Lord belted a long run-scoring triple in the fifth inning and eventually scored on freshman Jordan Goodrich’s two-out single as the Witches posted their first win over Bangor since 2013, 7-5, at Coffin Field.
Brewer is now 1-2 and Bangor is 2-1.
M.J. Sellars walked to open the fifth and Lord rifled her one-out, opposite-field triple over right fielder Kes Lavoie’s head.
“We needed more runs,” Lord said. “It was an outside pitch, and I like high, outside pitches. I was able to get the barrel of the bat on it.
“Lately, I seem to be hitting the ball down the first base line,” she added.
“That was a big hit,” said Brewer coach Skip Estes. “Emily has been hitting for a lot of power this season. Last year, she hit for higher average.”
An out and a walk later, Goodrich grounded a sharp single off the glove of diving shortstop Emma Payne to score Lord.
Bangor rallied for an unearned run in the seventh on a dropped pop-up, a hit batsman and Sarah Bragg’s two-out RBI single to left. But Ally Chapman induced an inning-ending grounder to pick up the save.
Bangor took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a walk to Emily Gilmore, her stolen bases, Payne’s RBI single, a fielder’s choice, a stolen base and Jenna Bishop’s RBI base hit.
The Witches responded with five in the bottom of the first to take a lead they would never relinquish.
Anna Chute doubled to left-center field off Bragg, went to third on a passed ball and scored on Meg Davis’ grounder to third. Sellars walked and Libby Hewes lined a single off the glove of second baseman Gilmore.
Lord hit a slow roller between the plate and the pitcher’s circle, and a wild throw to first allowed two runs to score. A walk and an out later, a wild pitch produced the fourth run, and Rebecca Gideon’s bunt single produced the final run.
Bangor got a run in the third when Gilmore walked and eventually scored on Megan Conners’ sacrifice fly to center.
The Rams got another in the fifth.
Gilmore walked for the third time, stole second, and raced to third on a groundout.
However, the University of Maine-bound Gilmore jammed her ankle on her slide into third and had to leave the game as she gingerly walked off the field.
Pinch-runner Grace Perron scored on Conners’ groundout.
Senior Davis, who missed last season with a knee injury, picked up the win with 5 ⅓ innings of four-hit, four-run softball. She struck out three and walked five.
Chapman allowed one hit and one unearned run over the final 1 ⅔ innings.
They were backed by a strong defensive performance as the Witches made just one error.
“It was a very good win. It was our best defensive game of the year,” Estes said. “I think we made six errors in our last game.”
“Brewer played tough today. They were scrappy,” said Bangor coach Don Stanhope. “When they got up to the plate, they kept it simple and hit the ball hard. They played better than we did.”
Bangor’s Bishop was the game’s only repeat hitter with two singles.