BREWER – Kelly Cookson preaches team play to her Brewer High softball squad, and that’s what helped the Witches hold off rival Bangor Tuesday night at Coffin Field.

Brewer’s Bekka York lofted an RBI single into center field to score Jordan McLain from third with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and earn a 5-4 victory over the Rams.

Although York’s hit ended it for the 5-1 defending Eastern Maine Class A champion Witches, Brewer got production from almost every spot in the lineup. Seven Brewer players had at least one hit and eight of nine starters reached base at least once.

“We have a team. When somebody in our lineup isn’t doing their best, they have teammates that get them through the rough times,” Cookson said. “Everybody in our lineup did something good.”

The Witches had a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh, but the Rams rallied for the second time in the game after watching their own 2-0 lead disappear earlier.

Bangor’s Kelly White hit a two-out single to drive in Amy Hackett (double) and tie the game at 4-4.

In the bottom of the inning, McLain drew a leadoff walk, advanced on a Sarah DeFilipp sacrifice bunt and moved to third when Anna Corey flied out. McLain scored easily when York’s hit dropped just in front of a charging Tawyna Godinez, Bangor’s center fielder.

“I just wanted to hit it, get a base hit,” York said. “All we needed was the one run. … We hit hard [in a loss to Bucksport last week] but we didn’t link them together. We had to focus on stringing together some hits in this game.”

Bangor took a 2-0 lead in the third when the Rams got two walks and benefited from two Brewer errors on the same play.

“We played terrible defense in that one spurt,” Cookson said. “That’s uncharacteristic of us. Both teams hit the ball, both teams made mistakes. We just had that last at-bat.”

The Witches tied the game in the fourth thanks to two Bangor errors, an Anna Corey single and Sarah Risser’s RBI single. The Rams regained the lead in the fifth when White singled and scored on a Godinez double.

Risser had another run-scoring single and scored on a Kate Hanlon single, all with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, to take a 4-3 lead and set up the exciting seventh inning.

“It was a tough game to lose, but it was a well-earned game,” Bangor coach Nancy Snowdeal said. “Everybody earned what they got and that means more in the end.”

White and Erin Gray each hit one of Bangor’s four doubles.

WITCHES 5, RAMS 4

Bangor (3-4) Brewer (5-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hackett, 3b 4 1 1 0 McLain, p 3 1 0

Heath, ss 3 0 0 0 DeFilipp, ss 3 0 0

White, p 3 2 3 1 Thoms, 3b 3 1 0

Godinez, cf 4 0 1 1 Corey, cf 4 1 0

Turner, 1b 3 0 0 0 York, rf 4 0 1

Tweedie, rf 3 0 0 0 O’Connell, pr 0 1 0

Gray, lf 3 0 1 0 Joyce, dh 3 0 0

Porter, c 3 0 0 0 Bennoch, c 0 0 0

Angst, 2b 2 1 0 0 Risser, lf 3 1 2

Hanlon, 1b 3 0 1 1

Quimby, 2b 3 0 0 0

Totals 28 4 6 2 Totals 29 5 9 4

Bangor 002 010 1 – 4

Brewer 000 202 1 – 5

E-Hackett, Turner; DeFilipp, Corey; LOB-Bangor 6; Brewer 6; 2B-Hackett, White, Godinez, Gray; York; S-DeFilipp

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

White (L,1-3) 7 9 5 4 2 1

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

McLain (W,3-1) 7 6 4 2 3 2

PB-Bennoch; T-1:39; ATT-100 (est.)