Gray grabs gold, gets by Erskine Patriots win 1st B title

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STANDISH -If Erskine Academy pitcher Katie Mainville was going to pitch a masterful softball game, the Western Maine champion Gray-New Gloucester Patriots figured they would just have to find a way around her.

Despite a two-hit effort from Mainville, Gray-New Gloucester’s Sarah Strout scored the lone run of the game on a single, stolen base, groundout and passed ball in the third inning for a 1-0 victory in Saturday’s Class B state championship at St. Joseph College’s Ward Field.

It was the second state championship for the Patriots, who won a Class C crown in 1984, the year winning pitcher Paige Bodwell was born. They finish their season 19-1 under coach John Moody.

“We just needed our opportunity and I think we found it,” Strout said.

The Eagles of South China, the 2000 state champions, wrap up with a 17-3 record.

Strout, the eighth batter in the order, scored the winning run in the third. Mainville had already struck out leadoff hitter Bodwell (Mainville’s sixth strikeout of the game) when Strout bunted and beat out the throw to first. She stole second and got to third on a Briana Sherwood groundout.

With Strout in scoring position Erskine catcher Beth Angell couldn’t handle a pitch to Emily Baker and the ball rolled to the backstop. Strout took off from third and crossed the plate in time.

“[Moody] told me to take a big lead, so I did,” she said.

Bodwell pitched a fine game for the Patriots, giving up four hits and no walks, and striking out six working mostly with a dropball.

That the Patriots beat Erskine pitcher Mainville seemed inconceivable. Bodwell admitted it would hurt to pitch as well as the Erskine junior did, only to lose.

Mainville struck out 13, allowed just two hits, walked none and pitched just 10 balls out of 61 pitches. She retired all three batters in the second and fifth innings on strikeouts, and after giving up a leadoff single to Jess Irish in the fourth, retired eight in a row to close out the game. The Patriots especially struggled with Mainville’s riseball.

“I wanted to throw as hard as I could, hit my spots well, occasionally a changeup and possibly get the rise if I could,” Mainville said. “I did my best and so did my team, and that’s just the way it went today.”

Gray-New Gloucester’s defense looked shaky early in the game. In the first the Patriots committed an error that put Erskine runners at second and third, and in the second an error and wild pitch helped two more Eagles get to second and third.

“We were a little nervous,” Strout said. “Coach told us it was just a game, which is a little hard to think because it’s a state game. We tried to go by what he told us.”

Bodwell said she knew the defense would settle down.

“I have confidence in my team so I knew if we stuck together, we were all up and focused that we could pull through, and we did, and I’m excited about that,” Bodwell said.

Meanwhile, the Eagles stranded eight runners in the game and were unable to come up with any timely hits.

Alycia Pushard singled twice for Erskine. Mainville and Kelsey Cloutier added a single apiece.

“We had opportunities but we didn’t take advantage of them,” Erskine coach Carl Gartley said. “We kept [the Patriots] to minimum opportunities but they took advantage of what they got. … Everything we got, we got with two outs, and when you leave runners at third base you’re not getting the job done.”

Patriots 1, Eagles 0

Erskine Academy (17-3) Gray-New Gloucester (19-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Emerson, cf 4 0 0 0 Baker, c 3 0 0

Mainville, p 3 0 1 0 Irish, cf 2 0 0

a-Johnson 0 0 0 0 Deluca, 1b 2 0 0

Pushard, 3b 3 0 2 0 Ross, ss 2 0 0

L. Horak, ss 3 0 0 0 Harriman, 3b 2 0 0

Tibbetts, dh 3 0 0 0 Bregman, lf 2 0 0

Gerrard, rf 0 0 0 0 Bodwell, p 2 0 0

Angell, c 3 0 0 0 Strout, rf 2 1 0

Thomas, 1b 3 0 0 0 Sherwood, 2b 2 0 0

St. Amand, 2b 2 0 0 0 Beebe, 2b 0 0

b-M. Horak 1 0 0 0

Cloutier, lf 2 0 1 0

c-Beaulieu 1 0 0 0

Totals 28 0 4 0 Totals 19 1 2 0

a-ran for Mainville in the third and fifth; b-struck out for St. Amand in the sixth; c-struck out for Cloutier in the seventh

Erskine 000 000 0 ?0

Gray-New Gloucester 001 000 x ?1

E?Ross 2, Baker, Deluca; LOB?Erskine 8, Gray-New Gloucester 0; SB?Johnson; Strout

Erskine IP H R ER BB SO

Mainville (12-2) 6 2 1 0 0 13

Gray-New Gloucester IP H R ER BB SO

Bodwell (W, 17-1) 7 4 0 0 0 6

HBP?Mainville by Bodwell; WP?Bodwell; PB?Angell; T?1:06; ATT?300 (est.)