BREWER, Maine — The defending Class A North champion Skowhegan High School softball team had its hands full with the Brewer Witches at a sun-drenched Coffin Field on Thursday.
But sophomore catcher Sydney Reed drove in all three runs as the Indians built a 3-0 lead and relied on the clutch pitching of junior Ashley Alward and some crucial defensive plays to edge the Witches 3-1.
Skowhegan improved to 3-1 while Brewer fell to 2-4.
Each team collected 10 hits and there was just one error in the well-played thriller.
“It’s always a good game when we come up here,” said the hard-throwing Alward, who struck out 10 and didn’t walk anybody while pitching out of several jams.
She threw 124 pitches, 78 for strikes.
“[Alward] was definitely really good,” said Brewer sophomore catcher Jordan Goodrich. “She had a lot of movement on her ball. She was hard to hit but we handled it pretty well.”
“I tried to make good pitches when I had to,” said Alward.
Sophomore right fielder Alyssa Everett bailed her out of a big jam in the sixth.
With Brewer trailing 3-1, Sydney Hewes and Crystal Dore hit one-out opposite-field singles and, after Alward got a called third-strike on a 3-2 changeup, Jordan Goodrich hit a sharp groundball single to right.
Everett charged the ball and threw a one-hop strike to Reed at the plate and Reed applied the tag to pinch-runner Kathryn Austin to end the inning.
“Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw [Austin] rounding third and I knew my catcher was there and she’d catch [my throw],” said Everett. “I was a little surprised she ran. It was a hard roller.”
“That was a big play,” said Skowhegan coach Lee Johnson.
Second baseman Julie Steeves had made an exceptional play with runners on first and second and one out in the fifth. Brewer had already scored its lone run in the inning.
Steeves got in front of a scalded one-hopper off the bat of Kenzie Dore, located the ball after it glanced off her body and threw Dore out. A fly ball to center ended the rally.
Brewer had scored on Jordan Goodrich’s base hit, Anna Chute’s fielder’s choice and stolen base and Oliva Cattan’s crisp RBI single to center.
First baseman Mariah Dunbar ended a third-inning threat by snaring Kenzie Dore’s scorching ground ball and stepping on the bag.
Skowhegan took a 1-0 lead in the first on Sydney Ames’ triple to left center field and Reed’s RBI grounder to shortstop. Ames beat the throw to the plate from first baseman Libby Hewes on a close play.
In the third, Everett lined a single to left center and Ames reached on a bunt single. On the low throw to first that hit in the dirt, Everett raced to third.
Ames stole second and both scored when Reed belted an opposite-field two-run single into the left center field gap.
“I think it was a fastball. It was right down the middle. It felt great [when I hit it],” said Reed.
But those were the only runs sisters Sydney and Libby Hewes were to give up.
They combined for four strikeouts and walked just one.
“They pitched real well,” said Goodrich.
Ames had two singles to go with her triple for the Indians. Lindsey Warren doubled and singled and Everett singled twice.
Crystal Dore doubled off the fence and singled for the Witches. Cattan, Libby Hewes and Goodrich had two singles apiece.
“This was the best game we’ve played all year,” said Brewer coach Skip Estes. “Skowhegan is a very good team. We battled hard. We had 10 hits but we couldn’t string them together.”