GSA captures EM ‘C’ crown Red Devils’ bats back Libby

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BREWER – One year after a devastating loss in the Eastern Maine Class C final, the Central High softball team is again headed to a state championship.

The No. 4 Red Devils of Corinth pounded out 14 hits and got a steady pitching effort from Alyssa Libby for a 9-6 victory over No. 6 George Stevens Academy in Wednesday afternoon’s regional title game at Coffin Field.

Playing in misty, cool conditions, the Red Devils gained their first state championship berth since 2003. Central (16-3) returns to Coffin Field Saturday at 11 a.m. to face Western Maine champion Telstar of Bethel, which beat Mount Abram of Strong 12-4.

George Stevens closes out its fine season with a 14-6 record.

The Eagles of Blue Hill just couldn’t catch up to the Devils, who took an early lead. It was a lesson learned from last year’s EM final in which Central had an early edge but eventually fell to Houlton.

“This is a great accomplishment for our team because last year we were really down about it,” said senior Nicole Daniel. “We just came back ready to play and we’re looking forward to going all the way this year.”

Daniel broke open the game with a two-out, three-run double in the second to give the Devils a 4-1 lead. Central hit four straight singles in that inning, including a Jenny Rollins hit that drove in a run and broke a 1-1 tie.

Central piled on two more runs in the third and another two in the fifth.

“We just needed to get a lead before they could get ahead of us,” Daniel said. “That was a key thing.”

The Eagles mounted a rally in the sixth when Robin Rioux hit a two-out, two-run triple and then scored on an error to cut the deficit to 9-6. GSA had a chance to tie things up in the top of the seventh as Natasha Robbins hit a one-out single and Libby walked Tegan Ober.

Catcher Chantel Randall went out to have a chat with Libby and the rest of the infield.

“I just told them that the runners on first and second didn’t mean anything and to calm down, because we knew we could do it,” Randall said.

After that, Libby induced two flyouts to end the game.

The bottom half of Central’s order came through, with four batters combining to go 9-for-12 with six runs scored and three RBIs. Kara Voisine hit two singles, Erica Brownell drove in two runs on three singles, Kristie Collins singled and scored, and Lindsey Mitchell singled twice, scored two runs and had an RBI on a sacrifice in the third.

“We’ve been struggling on our hitting and today we came back and everybody hit,” Rollins said. “Everybody got the job done. And Alyssa stepped up big.”

Libby (16-3) walked five but struck out eight, scattered seven hits and allowed just two leadoff runners to reach base.

GSA stranded 10 runners and lost out on several scoring opportunities.

In the second inning the Eagles had the bases loaded with two outs when the runner at second stepped off the base early and was called out. George Stevens also had runners at second and third in the fifth when Randall picked off the runner at third to end the inning.

“We hit the ball pretty well but we didn’t get the big hit we needed with the bases loaded a couple of times,” GSA coach John Greene said. “But the team has done really well and we started to put it together towards the end of the season.”

RED DEVILS 9, EAGLES 6

George Stevens (14-6) Central (16-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Winters, ss-rf 4 1 1 1 Rollins, 3b 4 1

Lymburner, rf-cf 3 0 0 1 Underhill, ss 4 0

Rioux, cf-ss 3 2 2 2 Daniel, 1b 4 0 3

Moon, c 3 0 0 0 Randall, c 4 0 0

Duddy, 1b 4 0 1 1 Libby, p 4 0 0

C. Robbins, 2b 4 1 1 0 Haney, pr 0 0

N. Robbins, 3b 3 1 1 0 Voisine, 2b 3 0

Thibodeau, lf 3 0 0 0 Brownell, cf 4 2

Ober, lf 1 0 0 0 Collins, lf 3 1 0

Schubeck, pr 0 0 0 0 Mitchell, rf 2 2 1

Gellerson, dh 2 0 1 0

Loomis, pr 0 1 0 0

Totals 30 6 7 5 Totals 32 9 14 7

George Stevens 011 103 0 – 6

Central 142 020 x – 9

E-Duddy, C. Robbins, N. Robbins; Rollins 2, Underhill, Collins; LOB-GSA 10, Central 7; 2B-Duddy, C. Robbins; Daniel, Randall, Mitchell; 3B-Rioux; S-Rioux; Mitchell; SB-Rioux; Underhill 2

George Stevens IP H R ER BB SO

Davis (L,14-6) 6 14 9 7 0 2

Central IP H R ER BB SO

Libby (W,16-3) 7 7 6 4 5 8

HBP-Moon by Libby; Voisine by Davis; WP-Davis 2; Libby 1; PB-Moon 2; Randall; T-2:18; ATT-200 (est.)