Skowegan beats Lawrence for title

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BREWER – In the seventh inning of Wednesday’s Eastern Maine Class A softball championship game, Lawrence coach Joe Marcoux called the Bulldogs together and shared a premonition.

“We said, ‘Something weird’s gonna happen to cause this game to end,'” Marcoux said with a shake of his head.

“Both pitchers were on. We knew something strange was gonna happen. Unfortunately, it happened to us.”

It happened in the top of the eighth inning of a 2-2 game. It started with a routine single off the bat of Skowhegan junior Kristi Steward.

And by the time it ended, an ecstatic Steward was scampering across home plate. The run, and a 1-2-3 exclamation point by pitcher Amy Rowbottom in the bottom of the eighth, gave the No. 7 Indians a 3-2 win and the EM crown over the No. 4 Bulldogs of Fairfield at Coffin Field.

The victory gave Skowhegan its first EM championship since 1994.

Steward’s single down the right field line got through right fielder Amy Hanscom, Hanscom’s subsequent throw to second base skipped into left field, and the opportunistic Steward just kept on scooting.

“I saw where the left fielder was [when I rounded second], saw she wasn’t in sight, so I took off to third,” Steward said. “And [third-base coach] Steve [McDaniel] threw me into home.”

Steward scored without a play at the plate, and Rowbottom (seven hits, eight strikeouts, no earned runs and no walks) finished the game with a nine-pitch, 1-2-3 eighth to improve to 13-3.

The Indians, also 13-3, avenged an earlier loss to the Bulldogs, and will take on Portland in Saturday’s 11 a.m. state championship contest, also at Coffin Field.

Rowbottom said when she saw Steward flying around the bases, she and the rest of the Indians had a hard time containing their emotions.

“I was so excited, I just wanted to go out there and hug her,” the junior pitcher said. “But we had to remain focused. We couldn’t get too excited.”

The Indians broke through for two first-inning runs against Lawrence ace Joy Ireland on a Amy McDaniel walk, base hits by Carmen Ballard and Mary Berry, and a two-run single to center by Meghan Gove.

But Ireland matched Rowbottom pitch for pitch for most of the game, as she struck out 10, walked two, and allowed just eight hits while dropping to 12-3.

Lawrence scraped away for single runs in the third (on an RBI fielder’s choice by Dee Dee Rogers) and the fifth.

The second Lawrence run came after Lesley Freese singled and moved to second when Rogers lined an infield single off Rowbottom’s leg. The ball deflected to charging third baseman Ballard, but her throw to first was late. Freese wheeled around second, headed for an unguarded third base, and scored when Ballard couldn’t retreat quickly enough to flag down Berry’s throw to the bag.

Skowhegan coach Lee Johnson said the game was what he expected of a playoff contest.

“It was just one of those games that nobody should have lost. We gave them a run and they gave us a run. Luckily, we got ours late in the game and won it,” said Johnson, whose team made mistakes of its own while dropping a 6-3 decision to the Bulldogs in the only regular-season meeting between the schools.

“At this time of year, that’s what you’re gonna get. You should get close games, and whoever makes the mistake, that team loses.”

Indians 3, Bulldogs 2 (8 inn.)

Skowhegan (13-3) Lawrence (12-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R BI

McDaniel, rf 4 1 0 0 Freese, ss 4 1 0

Ballard, 3b 5 1 2 0 Rogers, c 4 0 1

Berry, 1b 4 0 1 0 Dostie, 3b 4 0 0

Burns, 2b 4 0 1 0 Lane, 1b 4 0 0

Gove, ss 3 0 1 2 Ireland, p 4 0

Shute, c 4 0 0 0 a-Gurney 0 0

Steward, cf 4 1 1 0 Lindie, dh 3 0 0

Tan, dh 4 0 1 0 Hanscom, rf 1 0

c-Farmer, 0 0 0 0 Poulin, lf 3 1 0

Spears, lf 3 0 1 0 Miller, cf 3 0 0

b-Violette 0 0 0 0 Manzo, 2b 3 0 0

Totals 35 3 8 2 Totals 33 2 7 1

a-ran for Ireland in the fourth; b-ran for Spears in the sixth; c-ran for Tan in the eighth

Skowhegan 200 000 01 ? 3

Lawrence 001 010 00 ? 2

E?Gove, Berry; Freese 2, Poulin, Hanscom 2; LOB?Skowhegan 11, Lawrence 6

Skowhegan IP H R ER BB SO

Rowbottom (W,13-3) 8 7 2 0 0 8

Lawrence IP H R ER BB SO

Ireland (L,12-3) 8 8 3 2 2 10

HBP?Spears by Ireland; WP?Ireland 2; PB?Rogers; T?1:50; ATT?250 (est.)