Bangor trips up Trojans Rams win 7-0

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BANGOR – One of the areas in which Bangor softball coach Lisa Richards has been imploring her team to improve this year has been offensive consistency through the entire lineup.

The Class A Rams got just that Thursday against Class B Mount Desert Island at the Bangor High field.

Bangor pounded out 10 hits, including RBI singles from the No. 8 and 9 hitters in the batting order, and pitcher Shelby Soohey scattered five hits in a 7-0 victory over the Trojans.

The Rams (6-1) got two singles, two runs and an RBI from Ashley Tower, the last batter in the lineup.

Tower has been getting the bat on the ball lately (she flied out four times and singled once in a loss to Old Town Tuesday), and a change in equipment based on a suggestion from Richards may have helped.

“I had been using a lighter bat, and the past couple of games I’ve been using a heavier one and I think that’s helped me a lot with my hitting,” she said. “… I connected well today.”

Courtney Smith, who is eighth in the lineup, reached on a fielder’s choice that advanced a runner to second base in the second inning. She also singled to center field in the fifth to drive in pinch hitter Kara Holland, who had singled.

Kerri Tuck singled and scored in the first inning, hit an RBI single in the second, and reached on an error and scored again in the third. Rachael Dube singled twice and drove in a run.

“We talk a lot about runners in scoring position and driving runs in and I think kids stepped up to the plate today with a little bit better mentality along those lines,” Richards said.

Soohey (3-0) walked one and struck out four in the win. She didn’t allow a runner past second base until the top of the seventh, when Jessi Mayo led off with a single, advanced to second on a Kate Joseph groundout and got to third on a Haley Linscott single. But Soohey, who had a strikeout earlier in the inning, induced a fly-out to end the game.

Soohey threw fastballs, changeups, drops and some rises to stymie the Trojans.

“We had been throwing the same thing, same thing, so I mixed it up today,” she said. “It went well.”

MDI coach Greg Linscott said Soohey’s pitches were deceptive.

“I have to give her all the credit,” he said. “She threw the ball a little harder than it looked.”

The Trojans (1-6) were unable to hit consistently off Soohey, but Trojans played solid defense. In the third inning all three of Bangor’s outs came when the MDI defense eliminated the lead runner at second base (starting shortstop Bracey Barker had a hand in all three outs). The Trojans also completed a double play.

It’s all part of MDI’s slow but sure improvement from the beginning of the season (the Trojans had no preseason games because of the snowy fields). Now, Linscott just wants his team to get over the intimidation factor of playing Class A schools.

“I think we went in a little scared and then we could see that, hey, we can play with them,” he said. “But by that time it was a little too late. We have to come with our heads on.”

Rams 7, Trojans 0

Mount Desert Island (1-6) Bangor (6-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Boisvert, p 3 0 0 0 Tuck, 3b 3 2 1

Dillon, 3b 2 0 1 0 a-Wright, 3b 0 0 0

Barker, ss-1b 2 0 0 0 Jimmo, 2b 1 0

Kane, 2b 2 0 0 0 d-S. Chase 1 0 0

Mayo, 2b 1 0 1 0 Dube, c 3 0 2 1

Joseph, cf 3 0 0 0 c-Boyorak 1 0 0

Graves, 1b 2 0 0 0 Huckins, 1b 4 0 0

Goff, ss 1 0 0 0 Soohey, p 3 0 0

Linscott, rf 3 0 1 0 Warner, cf 2 0 0

Daugherty, c 3 0 1 0 Johnson, dh 1 1 0

Pope-Welch, lf 2 0 1 0 M. Chase, rf 0 0

Gordius, lf 0 0 0 0 b-Holland 1 1 0

Smith, lf 3 1 1 1

Tower, ss 3 2 2 1

Totals 24 0 5 0 Totals 26 7 9 4

a-ran for Soohey in the third; b-reached on fielder’s choice for Johnson in the fifth; c-singled for Dube in the sixth; d-flied out for Jimmo in the sixth

Mount Desert Island 000 000 0 ? 0

Bangor 130 210 x ? 7

E?Barker 2; LOB?MDI 5, Bangor 6; 2B?Tuck; DP?Dillon-Barker; Soohey-Huckins; S?Barker; Jimmo

MDI IP H R ER BB SO

Boisvert (L, 1-4) 6 9 7 4 2 1

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Soohey (W, 3-0) 7 5 0 0 1 4

HBP?Jimmo, Wright by Boisvert; WP?Boisvert 2; T?1:15; ATT? 175 (est.)