HERMON, Maine — The Ellsworth High School softball team kept first-year head coach Brandi Ensworth’s record unblemished on Thursday afternoon.
The Eagles received a five-hit complete game from senior righthander Tyler Hellum and they built a 6-1 lead before surviving Hermon’s three-run seventh-inning rally to triumph 6-4.
Ellsworth is now 6-0 and sits atop the Class B North Heal Points standings.
Hermon fell to 3-2.
Hellum struck out 12 and walked five while throwing 119 pitches, 72 for strikes.
She aided her own cause with a pair of singles including a ringing line drive off the third baseman’s glove which delivered Morgan Duhaime, who had tripled.
Jayden Sullivan doubled home a run later in the inning.
Faith Coombs had two singles for Hermon, Ava Dean tripled, Lyndsee Reed had an RBI double and freshman Katie Fowler pitched well in defeat, allowing seven hits over 6 ⅓ innings.
Pivotal play: Holding a 3-1 lead in the top of the seventh, Ellsworth freshman catcher Sophie Lynch ripped a two-run single into right center field to give the Eagles some valuable breathing room. She would eventually score later in the inning on three wild pitches. Those runs loomed large in the bottom of the seventh when Hermon pulled within two.
“I was really just trying to time it up,” Lynch said. “I saw it come in, I stepped through and got it in the hole.”
Annabelle Hackett had started the rally by drawing a one-out walk and an infield error and a stolen base put runners on second and third for Lynch.
“She’s awesome. She loves to come up and get the job done,” said an appreciative Hellum.
Takeaway: These two youthful teams with a significant number of freshmen and sophomores are only going to get better as their players gain more experience. Both made a number of good defensive plays highlighted by a tremendous diving catch by Hermon left fielder Norra Idano on a ball that looked like it was going to carry past her to the fence and a nifty diving snare by Ellsworth center fielder Alex Bivins on a ball sinking fast in front of her.
What’s next: Ellsworth will host Old Town on Monday at 4:30 p.m. and Hermon will travel to Nokomis of Newport for a 4 p.m. game on Tuesday.