Woodward lifts ‘Guagus to win

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CALAIS – After playing five games in five days last week, the Narraguagus softball team was looking forward to a little bit of rest.

The Knights of Harrington had a weekend break from playing games, but they were right back at it Monday facing Downeast Athletic Conference rival Calais, one of the toughest teams on their schedule.

As it turned out, all Narraguagus ace pitcher Ashley Woodward needed was the two-day break.

Woodward, who pitched all five games last week, racked up 15 strikeouts and allowed five hits as the Knights picked up an 8-3 win at Smith Field.

Narraguagus had already beaten Calais once this season, but with the busy week before, plus the absence of a two defensive starters due to illness and a school trip, the Knights could have been ripe for a defeat.

Instead, Woodward pitched and hit them to their 10th victory. Narraguagus is now 10-1.

Woodward struck out eight of Calais’ nine batters at least once. She struck out the side in the second, although the Blue Devils scored two runs in the inning, and in the bottom of the seventh.

Calais has some good power in the middle of the lineup and Woodward tried to mix in her drops, rises and curves to those batters.

“Other than that it’s mostly fastballs,” she said. “They’re a very good hitting team.”

Woodward helped herself with a triple, two singles and an RBI.

Narraguagus freshman Mary Eva Tenan had the big hit of the game in the third inning – a towering shot to left field that she turned into an inside-the-park home run, the first of her varsity career.

“It just felt really good when I hit it,” Tenan said. “It felt like one of those ones that’s gonna go far. You know it’s a good hit.”

The homer also plated pinch-runner Morgan West and gave the Knights a 4-2 lead.

The home run and two-run lead were key, especially against Calais, Woodward said.

“You want to come out, get a jump on them and put the ball into play, just to get them a little rattled and show them they’re not going to mow you down,” she said.

Amanda Barbee was 3-for-3 with a double and two singles, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI.

Calais’ Crystal Martin had the best game against Woodward, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs. In the second inning she hit an RBI single that plated her sister Lanna Martin, who had doubled. Jamie Doliber singled in Crystal Martin.

Crystal Martin singled and drove in Katie Frost in the sixth inning.

“Sometimes I have little lapses, I get lackadaisical,” Woodward said. “But once they get a few hits on me I try to bear down. I know I have to get these outs, right here, or it could get bad.”

Frost struck out five and walked one. Calais coach Greg Smith said he was pleased at least that his team gave the Blue Devil ace more offensive support than it did in a 4-2 loss at Harrington.

But Calais (5-2) struggled in the field – four of Narraguagus’ eight runs were unearned. The Blue Devils did complete the only double play of the game, however.

“You can’t make that many of mistakes against a team and a pitcher like that,” Smith said. “They just played much better than we did but hey, we did the best we could.”

KNIGHTS 8, BLUE DEVILS 3

Narraguagus (10-1) Calais (5-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

M. Barbee, 2b 4 0 0 1 Whittaker, cf 3 0

Woodward, p 3 0 3 0 Driscoll, 2b 3 0 0

a-West 0 2 0 0 Frost, p 3 1 0

Tenan, 1b 4 1 1 2 L. Martin, ss 3 1 0

Mann, ss 3 2 2 0 C. Martin, c 3 1 2

A. Barbee, cf 3 0 3 1 Doliber, dh 3 1

Strout, c 4 1 0 0 Hendricks, lf 0 0 0

Dublin, rf 3 0 0 1 Brown, rf 3 0 0

Sprague, rf 1 1 0 0 O’ Brien, 1b 3 0 0

Fitzpatrick, lf 4 0 1 0 Smith, 3b 3 0

b-Johnson 0 1 0 0

Simmons, 3b 3 0 1 0

Totals 32 8 11 5 Totals 27 3 5 3

a-ran for Woodward in the first, third and fifth; b-ran for Fitzpatrick in the sixth

Narraguagus 202 003 1?8

Calais 020 001 0?3

E?M. Barbee, A. Barbee; Smith 2, L. Martin; LOB?Narraguagus 5, Calais 3; 2B?A. Barbee; L. Martin; 3B?Woodward; HR?Tenan (1); DP?L. Martin-O’Brien; S?A. Barbee; SB?West, Strout, Mann

Narraguagus IP H R ER BB SO

Woodward (10-1) 7 5 3 2 0 15

Calais IP H R ER BB SO

Frost (5-2) 7 11 8 4 1 5

WP?Woodward; Frost; T?1:22; ATT?125 (est.)