Brewer blanks Old Town 9-0 Gomm flirts with no-hitter

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OLD TOWN – Jamie Gomm has pitched a lot of games in her young softball career, but the Brewer sophomore had never started a varsity game until Tuesday’s matchup against Old Town.

Gomm used all of her junior varsity experience from last year, when she started every game for the Witches, to shut down the Indians. Gomm went 5 1/3 innings without giving up a hit, leading Brewer to a 9-0 victory over Old Town.

“I tried not to think about it,” Gomm said of the no-hitter she had going. “I wasn’t nervous at all. It was fun. I throw strikes, just try my best and pretend it’s me and my catcher.”

Gomm had seven strikeouts and one walk, but with Brewer’s defense behind her, she didn’t even need to be that dominating. The Witches have returning infield starters at second, shortstop, third and catcher, and the defense recorded 14 outs for Gomm.

“We had to come in here and play our strong defense,” shortstop Caroline McAvoy said. “We knew Jamie would keep the ball on the ground. … We kept Jamie up the whole game, kept her pumped. She did an awesome job.”

Gomm mixed several off-speed pitches in with her fastball to keep the Indians off-balance.

“I just tried to mess with their heads and use different speed pitches,” Gomm said. “It was right on, I guess.”

Brewer gave Gomm a 2-0 lead in the first inning to take some of the pressure off. McAvoy and Anna Corey each scored a run on a combination of Old Town miscues.

After the first inning, the two teams zipped through the game – there were only two baserunners through the next four innings – but Brewer reached Indians starter Mary Wollstadt in the sixth.

McAvoy led off with a double and eventually scored on an error and the Witches piled on five more runs. Gomm had the big blow that inning, an RBI triple to drive in pinch hitter Vanessa Michaud. Corey scored in the seventh when she walked, advanced to second and third on passed balls, and came home on a Michaud groundout.

The Indians eventually got three hits off Gomm. Sara Jones broke up the no-hit bid with a one-out single in the sixth but Gomm induced a flyout and a groundout to end the threat. In the seventh Erin Sherman and Heather Surette hit consecutive singles with two out, but Gomm ended the game with a strikeout.

The Indians are breaking in new players in key positions and struggled a bit on defense. Wollstadt allowed only four hits while walking one and striking out three.

“I thought Mary pitched well,” Old Town coach Mike Thurston said. “She deserved a better fate than a 9-0 game, but a couple of early miscues kind of sealed our fate when we didn’t hit the ball very well.”

WITCHES 9, INDIANS 0

Brewer (2-0) Old Town (1-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Freeman, 2b 3 0 0 0 Ouellette, cf 3 0 0

DeFilipp, 3b 4 0 0 1 Thibodeau, c 3 0 0

McAvoy, ss 4 2 1 0 Jones, rf 2 0 0

Corey, rf 2 3 0 0 Richard, lf 3 0 0

Wing, c 3 1 1 0 Saucier, 3b 3 0 0

a-Foster 1 0 0 0 Sherman, ss 2 0 0

Thoms, dh 1 0 0 0 Higgins, 2b 2 0 0

Michaud 1 1 0 1 Surette, 2b 1 0 0

Whalen, lf 0 0 0 0 Day, dh-1b 3 0 0

McLaughlin, cf 4 0 0 1 Swandal, 1b 0 0

Gomm, p 3 1 2 1 Wollstadt, p 1 0 0

Hanlon, 1b 3 1 0 0 Hussey, p 1 0 0

Totals 29 9 4 4 Totals 24 0 3 0

a-struck out for Wing in 7th

Brewer 200 006 1 ? 9

Old Town 000 000 0 ? 0

E?Wollstadt, Jones, Swandal 2, Thibodeau; LOB?Brewer 3, Old Town 5; 2B?McAvoy; 3B?Gomm; S?Freeman; SB?Freeman, Hanlon; Sherman, Ouellette

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Gomm (W,1-0) 7 3 0 0 1 7

Old Town IP H R ER BB SO

Wollstadt (L,1-1) 6 6 8 3 1 3

Hussey 1 0 1 1 1 1

HBP?Whalen, Thoms by Wollstadt; Jones by Gomm; WP?Wollstadt; PB?Thibodeau 2; T?1:16; ATT?75 (est.)