BREWER, Maine — The defending state Class C champion Bucksport High School girls softball team had scored at least 10 runs in each of its previous eight games entering Saturday afternoon’s state title game against Dirigo High of Dixfield at Coffin Field in Brewer.
But Dirigo High School senior pitcher Lana Waite held the Bucks to just five hits and one run and aided her own cause with an important two-run double in the seventh inning as Dirigo won the program’s first ever state title, 5-1, over the Bucks on a blustery afternoon.
Dirigo concluded a 19-1 campaign while Bucksport finished at 18-2 and had its 18-game winning streak snapped.
Waite walked two, hit a batter and only struck out three but her teammates turned in an exceptional defensive performance to support her. She threw an economical 84 pitches, 51 for strikes. The Cougars made just one error behind her, turned two double plays and threw out a runner at the plate.
“I threw my fastball a lot and then I’d throw my curve which seemed to throw them off-balance sometimes. It got them to pop up,” said Waite. “It really worked well for me today.”
Waite credited the defense behind her, noting that she just started pitching well near the end of the season, saying she had a solid sophomore season but had a rough junior season.
“She was good,” Bucksport senior right fielder Alivia Shute of Waite. “She was one of the better pitchers we’ve faced. She hit her spots well.”
Junior righty Marina Keene pitched a complete game for the Bucks and held the Cougars to just one run through five innings before giving up four runs in the sixth and seventh. She finished with a nine-hitter, striking out eight and walking three.
The Cougars broke a 1-1 tie and took the lead for good with a run in the sixth on singles by Leah Turnbull, Abby Luczynski and Xandria Landry and added three more in the seventh. Landry drove in Turnbull with a two-out line drive single to left center while using a new bat after she broke her normal one in the regional championship game.
The Cougars added three important insurance runs an inning later. Madison Bradeen drew a one-out wall and stole second. She remained at second when Nikole Turnbull reached on an infield single when her sizzling one-hop line drive glanced off the mask of Bucksport shortstop Addison Harvey.
Sophomore Leah Turnbull, senior Nikole’s sister, knocked in the first run with a ground ball single to center.
“I knew we had get more runs,” Leah Turnbull said.
Waite then pounced on the first pitch and hooked a sharp double towards the left field line, just beyond the reach of left fielder Brie Rotella, to deliver the Turnbull sisters.
“I love going after the first pitch,” said Waite. “That’s my pitch especially if it’s right down the middle. I didn’t know if the ball was caught or not until I heard everyone screaming.”
The two teams had swapped first-inning runs as two walks sandwiching a Leah Turnbull single followed by Luczynski’s sacrifice fly staked Dirigo to a 1-0 lead but Bucksport answered on Keene’s base hit and stolen base and freshman Avery Robshaw’s two-out double to right center.
Bucksport had opportunities to take the lead in the fourth and fifth innings but the Dirigo defense thwarted the Bucks.
In the fourth, Robshaw tried to score from first on Shute’s two-out double into short right field but Dirigo right fielder Abby MacFarlane threw a strike to the plate in plenty of time to nail Robshaw.
In the fifth, Allie Hanscom singled and pinch-runner Isobel Wardwell tried to go from first to third on Rotella’s sacrifice bunt but Dirigo left fielder Emma Witas snuck in to cover third and she tagged Wardwell out on a throw from across the diamond.
After Dirigo took a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth, the Bucks had a golden opportunity to answer and maybe even take the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Raymond led off the inning with a single to right and Layken Varnum was hit by a pitch.
Keene then scorched a low line drive that shortstop Nikole Turnbull snared at her shoe-tops and tossed to second to double up Raymond.
“It caught me off-guard,” said Turnbull. “I was going the other way. I was walking towards the third. I didn’t expect her to hit it my way. I just went down and got it. It was a quick reaction and I knew someone had taken a lead off second so I knew where to go with (my throw).”
Following a walk, Waite induced a pop-up to end the threat.
Leah Turnbull had three singles for the Cougars with a run-batted in and two runs scored. Luczynski had a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly.
“I can’t believe it. It doesn’t feel real to me yet. It hasn’t kicked in,” said Waite.
“Dirigo is a very good team,” said Bucksport coach Rich Rotella. “Waite pitched great for them, her defense backed her up and they had some timely hitting.”
Robbins said Bucksport has always been “the standard in Class C softball” and that Rotella and his team are a class act.
“If we can be a little like them, that’s good,” said Robbins.