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BREWER – Go ahead, pile on the pressure. When it comes to pressure situations, the Skowhegan softball team can pile on the runs.
The No. 7 Indians used a pair of two-out uprisings for an 8-0 victory over No. 3 Brewer in an Eastern Maine Class A semifinal Saturday at Coffin Field.
Skowhegan’s win sets up a meeting with No. 4 Lawrence of Fairfield in Wednesday’s Eastern Maine championship game at 7 p.m. at Coffin Field. The Bulldogs beat the Indians (12-3) in their only regular-season game.
The Witches close their season with a 13-5 record.
Skowhegan racked up 15 hits, including Kris Burns’ 4-for-4 effort and three Mary Berry singles.
“They played really well tonight,” Brewer senior Jenny Higgins said. “Their bats were going. We tried our best and they came out on top.”
The Indians had their first rally in the third inning. With two outs and the bases loaded, Margaux Shute reached first on an error, which allowed Carmen Ballard to score from third. Kristi Stewart singled into center field in the next at-bat, plating Berry and Burns. Jen Tan singled in Shute. Brewer pitcher Sherri Capponi got a groundout to end the inning, but Skowhegan already had a 4-0 lead.
“We’re a two-out team,” Burns said. “I think that’s pretty much how we’ve gotten all of our runs this year. I think we do well in pressure situations. We come through.”
The Indians scored four more runs on four hits in the fifth – again with two outs. Berry’s two-run single was the biggest hit of the inning.
Junior Amy Rowbottom earned the win for Skowhegan. Rowbottom has racked up 128 strikeouts so far this season, including six against Brewer. Her changeup was especially effective.
“When she got the change in for strikes, we had trouble with that,” Higgins said.
When Rowbottom wasn’t striking out batters, the defense behind her was clicking. During one stretch in the game the Indians retired 13 Brewer batters in a row. The run started in the first inning, when Rowbottom struck out the first batter of the game, then gave up consecutive singles to Amy Freeman and Higgins.
Rowbottom induced a flyout and got another strikeout for the final out of the inning. From there, Skowhegan held the Witches off the bases until Emily McLaughlin hit a two-out single in the fifth inning.
“I have total confidence in our defense,” Rowbottom said. “[A lead] makes me more relaxed, and the more relaxed, the better I pitch. But we couldn’t sit back. We stayed on our toes and we played awesome defense.”
The Witches struggled with errors throughout the game – all eight of Skowhegan’s runs were unearned – but did complete two double plays.
Indians 8, Witches 0
Skowhegan (12-3) Brewer (13-5)
Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI
McDaniel, rf 4 1 0 0 DeFilipp, cf 3 0 0
c-Farmer 1 0 1 0 A. Freeman, ss 3 0 0
Ballard, 3b 5 2 2 1 Higgins, 2b 3 0 0
Berry, 1b 5 1 3 2 McAvoy, 3b 3 0 0
Burns, 2b 4 1 4 0 K. Freeman, lf 3 0 0
Gove, ss 4 0 0 0 Capponi, p 3 0 0
Shute, c 4 1 1 0 Reed, dh 3 0 0
Steward, cf 4 0 1 2 Wing, c 0 0 0 0
Tan, dh 4 0 2 1 McLaughlin, rf 2 0 0
a-Violette 0 1 0 0 Coutts, 1b 2 0 0
Spears, lf 3 1 1 0
b-Furbush 1 0 0 0
Totals 39 8 15 6 Totals 25 0 3 0
a-ran for Tan in the fifth; b-flied out for Spears in the seventh; c-singled for McDaniel in the seventh
Skowhegan 004 040 0 ?8
Brewer 000 000 0 ?0
E?Ballard; A. Freeman 3, Higgins, McAvoy, Capponi; LOB?Skowhegan 10, Brewer 4; 2B?Burns; DP?A. Freeman-Coutts, DeFilipp-A. Freeman; SB?Spears; A. Freeman
Skowhegan IP H R ER BB SO
Rowbottom (W, 12-3) 7 3 0 0 0 6
Brewer IP H R ER BB SO
Capponi (L, 13-5) 7 15 8 0 0 1
PB?Wing; T?1:22; ATT?400 (est.)
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