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BREWER – There’s only one day of the year Messalonskee of Oakland can manage to beat Medomak Valley of Waldoboro.
No regular season wins. No Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference titles last year, or this year.
But on June 11th, the Eagles can get it right, and that’s all that matters for the Class A Eastern Maine schoolgirl softball title.
The Eagles earned their second straight crown on that date with a 2-1 win Wednesday at Brewer’s Coffin Field. Messalonskee will take on Western Maine champ Edward Little of Auburn, which knocked off No. 7 Brunswick 2-1, in Saturday’s 11:30 a.m. state final, also at Coffin Field.
It will be Messalonskee’s second attempt for the Class A state title and its first state softball crown since a 1991 Class B victory.
Messalonskee, now 15-4, found itself in a 1-0 hole with nothing but three outs separating them from the season’s end.
Coming out of a quiet dugout, senior Karyn McMullin whacked a lead-off double down the third-base line to ignite the Eagles’ rally.
Panthers second baseman Renee Ross couldn’t dig out Kate McKay’s grounder, and McKay stole second two pitches later to give the Eagles baserunners at second and third with no outs.
That brought freshman Jamie Wacome, who was playing in her third varsity game of the season after working her way up from the JV team in time for the postseason, to bat.
Wacome knocked the 1-1 offering for a grounder to third baseman Portia Kelly. Kelly’s throw to first baseman Taylor Nice and Wacome arrived at the same time and Nice lost control of the ball after a near collision with Wacome charging into first.
McMullin rushed home after Kelly threw the ball and McKay scored as Nice chased down the ball in foul territory for the Eagles’ 2-1 margin.
“I thought she was running [inside] the first-base line and drew Taylor off the bag,” Medomak Valley coach Brad Robbins said. “I couldn’t see it any other way but obviously they did.”
“I just ran. It was like `Don’t get out.’ I was scared,” Wacome admitted. “[My stomach] was more in knots when they were deciding whether I was safe or out, and if those runs counted.”
Alice Bishop, who cracked a home run against Messalonskee during a 3-0 regular-season win, had the chance to even the score with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and Panthers on first and second.
But Eagles pitcher Erica Gagnon got her swinging on three pitches for her fifth strikeout of the day.
“I can’t think of that,” Gagnon said of Bishop’s previous long shot. “I was thinking of keeping the ball low and keeping it in the infield. Because with the runners on, we were up by one, if a run came in, we were still tied and we were still all right.”
Gagnon earned the Eagles’ win with a tough three-hitter, striking out five and walking two in seven innings.
Alice Bishop took the hard-luck loss for Medomak Valley, which ends the season at 17-2. Bishop, who has a softball scholarship to the University of Maine and will room with soon-to-be-teammate McMullin there, weaved a tightly knit two-hitter with eight strikeouts and one walk.
McMullin and Aleisha Bemis each doubled against Bishop for Messalonskee’s two hits.
Renee Ross, Raquel Ross and Erin Bellemore each singled for Medomak Valley.
Medomak Valley grabbed the 1-0 lead by capitalizing on a pair of Eagles errors in the sixth inning when Renee Ross’ long fly to right field bounced off Wacome’s glove and Bishop scored from second.
Eagles second baseman Dawn Doucette couldn’t dig out Bishop’s leadoff grounder in time to nab the Panthers senior, who then stole second to get into scoring position.
“We knew it was going to be a real tight game,” Messalonskee coach Terry Parlin said. “When we gave up that little error off the glove out there, I was just hoping something like that wouldn’t win it because both those girls were going to blame themselves for one whole year.
“I’m just happy we could come back and score the tying run to take the pressure off them,” he said.
Eagles 2, Panthers 1
Messalonskee (15-4) Medomak Valley (17-2)
Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi
Doucette, 2b 2 0 0 0 Bishop, p 3 1 0 0
Bemis, lf 2 0 1 0 Miller, c 1 0 0 0
Smith, 1b 3 0 0 0 Nice, 1b 3 0 0 0
McMullin, ss 3 1 1 0 Re.Ross, 2b 3 0 1 0
McKay, cf 3 1 0 0 b-Starr 0 0 0 0
Wacome, rf 3 0 0 0 Kelly, 3b 3 0 0 0
a-Chavarie 0 0 0 0 Snell, dh 1 0 0 0
Lewis, c 2 0 0 0 Ra.Ross, cf 2 0 1 0
Lynch, dh 2 0 0 0 Chase, rf 3 0 0 0
c-Turgeon 1 0 0 0 Bellmore, lf 2 0 1 0
d-Henrich 0 0 0 0 Winchncbch,ss 3 0 0 0
Duguay, 3b 2 0 0 0
e-Todd 1 0 0 0
Totals 24 2 2 0 Totals 24 1 3 0
a-ran for Wacome in fourth
b-ran for Re. Ross in fourth
c-hit by pitch for Lynch in seventh
d-ran for Turgeon in seventh
e-flied out for Duguay in seventh
Messalonskee 000 000 2 – 2
Medomak Valley 000 001 0 – 1
E – Doucette, Wacome; Nice, Re. Ross, Kelly 2B – Bemis, McMullin LOB – Messalonskee 4; Medomak Valley 6 DP – Kelly SB – McKay; Bellmore, Ra. Ross S – Lewis; Miller 2
PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO
Messalonskee
Gagnon (W, 15-4) 7 3 1 0 2 5
Medomak Valley
Bishop (L, 17-2) 7 2 2 0 1 8
HBP – Bemis by Bishop, Turgeon by Bishop WP – Gagnon TIME – 1:20
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