Portland surges past Skowhegan DiPierro sparks Bulldogs victory

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BREWER – The Skowhegan softball team got off to the kind of start teams dream about in the typically low-scoring world of championship softball.

The first three batters the Indians sent to the plate got hits. They scored three runs on their first time through the order.

Boy, did things change after that.

The senior-laden Portland Bulldogs rebounded on offense and defense, held Skowhegan to just one hit over the final four innings, and surged to an 8-3 win in the state Class A championship game at Coffin Field.

Portland finishes up 18-2, while the Eastern Maine champs from Skowhegan wrap up a 11-4 campaign.

“We had [six] hits in the first three innings and only came up with three runs,” Skowhegan coach Lee Johnson said. “And then we didn’t get another hit for the rest of the ballgame, for the most part.”

For the most part, Johnson is right: After their opening flurry, the Indians mustered only a harmless seventh-inning single against Portland ace Liana DiPierro.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs were taking advantage of some well-timed hits and a series of Skowhegan fielding miscues.

Skowhegan starter Amy Rowbottom struck out four and walked none, but was hurt by five errors that led to six unearned runs.

More troublesome to Rowbottom and Johnson was the fact that the Indians weren’t able to maintain their intensity after getting the upper hand early on.

“[The early lead] helps you relax,” Rowbottom said. “But we have to stay pumped. We have to stay into the game and not sit on our lead. And today I think we may have done that.”

Johnson agreed.

“You can’t sit on a lead when you’re in a game like that,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to kind of put them away. If you’ve only got three runs on the board, they’re gonna come back. They’re gonna make their run.”

They did.

After Amy McDaniel and Carmen Ballard each singled and scored for the Indians in the first, and after Megan Spears did the same in the second, Portland got to work.

Portland coach Ericka Lee said her team expected good things to happen to them despite the rough start.

“Hey, we’ve been down before, and we know we’ve just got to get our bats going,” she said. [Skowhegan] hit some holes, and they won’t do that the whole game. They’re good hitters, but they’ve got to hit it to somebody at some point.”

Megan Young, one of seven senior starters for the Bulldogs, started things off in the top of the fourth when she singled, stole second and moved to third on an infield error on Alison Merrill’s grounder.

Amanda Axelson delivered both runners when she hit a long fly ball that Spears gloved momentarily, then dropped.

DiPierro, who allowed just seven hits and two walks, striking out six, said her confidence began to rise at that point.

“Once we got two runs on the board, I knew that things had changed and our momentum was picking up,” she said.

The Bulldogs put the game away in the sixth, and again, Young was the catalyst. She lined a single to right, stole second, moved to third on a Merrill single, and scored – along with Merrill – when Jennifer Zack’s fly ball to center was dropped by Kristi Steward.

Zack and Axelson also scored in the inning, and the Bulldogs iced it in the seventh when the scored two more on an inside-the-park homer by Young.

“I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything more than I wanted this,” Young said.

Bulldogs 8, Indians 3

Portland (18-2) Skowhegan (11-4)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Shirrell, 2b 4 0 1 0 McDaniel, rf 4 1 0

Prior, cf 4 1 1 0 Ballard, 3b 4 1 0

Young, c 4 3 3 2 Berry, 1b 4 0 1

Merrill, 3b 4 1 2 0 Burns, 2b 2 0 1

b-Caron 0 1 0 0 Gove, ss 4 0 0

Zack, ss 3 1 0 0 Shute, c 4 0 0

Axelson, dh 4 1 2 1 Steward, cf 3 0 0

Rutherford, lf 2 0 0 0 Tan, dh 3 0 0

Doane, 1b 2 0 0 1 Spears, lf 2 1 0

Desmond, rf 2 0 0 0 Searles, lf 1 0 0

a-Skillings 1 0 0 0

Meader, rf 1 0 0 0

Totals 31 8 9 4 Totals 31 3 7 2

a-popped out for Desmond in the fifth; b-ran for Merrill in the sixth

Portland 000 204 2 ? 8

Skowhegan 210 000 0 ? 3

E?Zack 2; Gove 2, Spears, Steward, Searles; LOB?Portland 4; Skowhegan 8; 2B?Shirrell; HR?Young; DP?Shirrell (unassisted); S?Prior, Rutherford; SF?Doane; SB?Young 2, Merrill, Caron

Portland IP H R ER BB SO

DiPierro (W, 14-1) 7 7 3 2 2 6

Skowhegan IP H R ER BB SO

Rowbottom (L, 11-4) 7 9 8 2 0 4

HBP?Shute by DiPierro; T?1:37; ATT?225 (est.)