HERMON, Maine — Nokomis High School of Newport catcher Megan Watson was having a tough day during Tuesday’s Class B North game at Hermon.
She wasn’t happy with her first two at-bats and she took a painful foul tip in her unprotected left arm.
But Watson shrugged off the sore arm and belted a long two-run double in the fifth inning to break the game open and help the Warriors improve to 8-0 with a 5-2 win over the Hermon Hawks.
Standout junior righthander Mia Coots threw a two-hitter, striking out 11 and not walking anyone. One of the runs was unearned.
Hermon is now 4-2.
The game was tied 1-1 entering the fifth inning when the Warriors scored four runs to take the lead for good.
Camryn King poked a single to center and stole second.
Hope Brooks then put down a perfect bunt beyond pitcher Mikelle Verrill and between first and second for a base hit and she alertly continued to second.
Raegan King drove older sister Camryn home with a bunt and she was safe at first when the throw was dropped.
Watson then walloped a 1-2 pitch off the fence in right center field to chase home Brooks and Raegan King.
“I was struggling to hit today,” Watson said. “But I was able to put my bat on the ball and bring them all in. I made sure my head was down. I wasn’t pulling my head and I was looking at the ball. She threw me a curveball on the outside.”
Jenna Sawtelle delivered Watson with a base hit.
Nokomis took a 1-0 lead in the first on an infield error, a stolen base and two wild pitches.
Hermon tied it in the third when Olivia Johnston reached on a bunt single, was sacrificed to second by Mackenzie Gallant and scored when Norra Idano rifled a two-out double into the right center field gap.
Hermon scored its only other run in the seventh on a dropped fly ball, a stolen base and Braelynn Wilcox’s run-scoring bunt.
“This was a very good win against that team,” said Nokomis coach J.D. McLellan, whose team had outscored its previous seven opponents 97-6. “To see good competition is nice because the girls have to work the entire time.”
He added that he was happy the team made contact, ran the bases well and had its defense tested.
He also said Coots threw well.
“Her rise ball was up a little bit because she was leaning back. But that’s a good hitting team. She wasn’t going to throw a no-hitter against them,” McLellan said.
Coots threw a 20-strikeout perfect game in a 1-0 win at Hermon last season.
“I threw pretty well. I had a mix of everything working,” said Coots, who throws five pitches and has an impressive change-up among her arsenal.
“This was a huge game. I had butterflies coming in. I was really excited to play them,” Coots added. “My team had my back. We had a real good game altogether. Our bats are coming along. We had some timely hits.”
Coots had great command of the strike zone with 62 strikes among her 81 pitches and she never went to a three-ball count.
“She had a good rise, a good change-up and a good curve,” Hermon senior pitcher-shortstop Lyndsee Reed said of Coots’ pitching.
“Nokomis is a good team. They put the bat on the ball, they had good bunts, they’re pretty fast and they have a great pitcher,” said Hermon coach Steph Biberstein. “They played well. We made some mistakes and you can’t make mistakes against a good team.”
Camryn King was the game’s only repeat hitter with two singles but Brooks had a base hit and drew three walks.
Both teams will play again on Thursday. Nokomis will host Cony of Augusta at 4 p.m. and Hermon will travel to take on John Bapst of Bangor at 4:30 p.m.