BREWER – In several games this season the Brewer softball team has seemed content to wait before scoring runs and winning games.

The Witches decided that wasn’t good enough for Thursday’s Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinal against Skowhegan. Brewer scored three runs on four hits in the first inning – all the No. 1 seed would need to earn a 3-1 win over the No. 8 Indians.

The quarterfinal win means Brewer will face the winner of Friday’s 4 p.m. quarterfinal between No. 4 Bangor and No. 5 Messalonskee. Bangor beat No. 13 Lawrence of Fairfield 3-2 in a prelim Thursday.

The Witches already have beaten cross-river rival Bangor three times during the regular season. But Brewer doesn’t care who it faces the rest of the way – the Witches just want to get back to the regional final where they lost to eventual state champion Leavitt of Turner last year.

“We want to get there again,” said Sarah DeFilipp, who scored a run and earned the win in the circle. “We just want to be in that game again. It’s so great to be there.”

Brewer took a big step toward next week’s regional with the win Thursday.

DeFilipp got things started with a one-out walk and scored when Anna Corey lofted a double to center field. Corey moved to third on a Christine Thoms single, Jordan McLain singled in Corey and Thoms came home on a Vanessa Michaud single.

“We came in ready to hit and we wanted to hit,” Corey said. “We just wanted to hit the ball. That was our mind-set. No matter what [the pitch was] just hit. That’s all we focused on.”

Skowhegan got a run back in the third when Stephanie Obert had a leadoff single, stole second and crossed the plate after Laura Dudley doubled with two outs. But Dudley ran through a stop sign and the Witches tagged her out in a rundown between second and third.

Brewer shortstop Amy Freeman tagged a runner off second base in the fifth inning.

Brewer had plenty of other scoring opportunities but was unable to capitalize. The Witches had at least one baserunner in all but one inning.

Michaud led off the fourth with a triple but Skowhegan pitcher Mariah Daigle induced a flyout and two groundouts. The Witches also had runners at second and third with one out but were unable to get anyone across. Michaud had a leadoff single in the fifth but again was unable to score.

“We ran ourselves into a couple of outs but they left a few people in scoring position where they could have scored,” Skowhegan coach Lee Johnson said. “… They hit the ball as hard as we’ve seen all year. That’s one of the better Brewer teams I’ve seen.”

DeFilipp (9-1, 1.24 ERA) mixed in her changeup to keep the Indians off-balance and limited them to four hits. She relied on the Brewer defense, which recorded 21 outs in the field.

WITCHES 3, INDIANS 1

Skowhegan (12-6) Brewer (15-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Fortier, cf 3 0 0 0 Freeman, ss 3 0 0

Dudley, lf 3 0 1 1 DeFilipp, p 1 1 0

Martell, ss 3 0 0 0 Corey, cf 3 1 1

Goff, 1b 3 0 0 0 Thoms, 3b 3 1 0

M. DeRouche, 2b 2 0 1 0 McLain, rf 3 1

Roy, pr 0 0 0 0 Michaud, lf 3 0 1

V. DeRouche, dh 3 0 0 0 York, lf 0 0

Sherburne, 3b 3 0 1 0 Foster, dh 2 0

Obert, rf 2 1 1 0 Bennoch, c 0 0 0

Vigue, c 2 0 0 0 Quimby, 2b 3 0 0

Hanlon, 1b 2 0 0 0

Totals 24 1 4 1 Totals 23 3 7 3

Skowhegan 001 000 0 ? 1

Brewer 300 000 x ? 3

LOB?Skowhegan 3, Brewer 6; 2B?Dudley, Sherburne; Freeman, Corey; 3B?Michaud; DP?Skowhegan; S?Hanlon; SB?Obert; DeFilipp

Skowhegan IP H R ER BB SO

Daigle (L) 6 7 3 3 2 1

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

DeFilipp (W) 7 4 1 1 1 1

T?1:05; ATT?100 (est.)