Trojans settle down, rally for win over Crusaders

loading...

BANGOR – As the MDI softball team jogged back to its bench after playing spotless defense in the fourth inning Wednesday against John Bapst, Trojans coach Dennis Meehan gave his squad a compliment.

“Now that’s my team,” he said with a smile.

MDI’s defense, which committed four errors in the third inning, bounced back in the fourth, recording a strikeout and two quick groundouts.

And in the fifth inning, the Trojans cranked up their offense.

MDI rallied from a four-run deficit behind clutch hitting and the strong pitching of senior Nia Megquier for a 7-4 victory over the Crusaders at Husson College’s O’Keefe Complex.

Playing in intermittent rain showers, MDI, now 5-2, scored three runs each in the fifth and sixth innings and added another in the seventh.

It was a strong showing after John Bapst (3-5) jumped on MDI’s miscues for a 4-0 lead.

“I think initially we were kind of down on ourselves. We don’t like to make errors,” said Megquier, who struck out seven and walked one. “But once we got a few hits we regained our confidence, and that helped us get some runs.”

The Trojans managed just two walks and a hit against John Bapst starter Gwen Wadleigh in the first four innings.

Wadleigh began to struggle in the fifth, however. Bapst coach Bill Baker said the senior, who is recovering from offseason knee surgery, may have tweaked her back during the game.

“I think she tends to overcompensate in other places and I think that’s what happened today,” Baker said. “When she’s right, we win that game. We had the trainer working on her. We were really playing well and I hate to take her out. She’s our pitcher.”

Wadleigh got two quick outs to open the fifth, but a single and a walk set up Kaitlyn Vaux’s two-run double to left-center. Megquier singled to drive in Vaux and cut the lead to 4-3.

Courtney Bartlett drew a leadoff walk in the sixth. After a strikeout Miranda McIntire doubled to plate Bartlett and tie the game. Lynne Bowden followed with an RBI single and McIntire scored the go-ahead run.

“[Wadleigh] was good, but once we started to make contact she lost it a little bit,” Vaux said.

All four of MDI’s third-inning errors were fielding mistakes. Danielle Richard hit a two-run triple – both baserunners got aboard via errors – and Richard herself scored on an error.

“After that inning I thought, wow, we really have to get focused,” said right fielder Vaux, who had committed one of the errors.

Laferriere had an RBI single in the first inning.

Bapst had one baserunner in each of the last three innings but couldn’t mount a rally.

“We were still hitting the ball,” Baker said. “We were just hitting it right at people.”

TROJANS 7, CRUSADERS 4

MDI (5-2) John Bapst (3-5)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Smith, cf 3 1 1 1 Sinclair, 2b 4 1 0

Vaux, rf 4 1 1 2 Stearns, ss 3 2 0

Megquier, p 4 0 2 1 Richard, cf-p 3 1 2

Allen, pr 0 1 0 0 Laferriere, 1b 3 0 1

Ross, 3b 3 0 1 0 Nichols, 3b 3 0 0

Bartlett, dh 2 1 0 1 Toomey, lf 3 0 0

Winchenbach, 2b 0 0 0 0 Perkins, c 3 0

Tinker, ss 4 0 0 0 Sleeper, c 0 0 0

McIntire, lf 2 1 1 1 Adams, dh-cf 3 0 0

Bowden, c 3 1 1 1 Benn, rf 3 0 0

Burton, 1b 3 0 1 0

Miller, pr 0 1 0 0

Totals 28 7 8 7 Totals 28 4 5 3

MDI 000 033 1 – 7

John Bapst 103 000 0 – 4

E-Smith, Vaux, Ross, Winchenbach, Tinker; LOB-MDI 5, John Bapst 5; 2B-Vaux, McIntire; 3B-Richard; SB-McIntire, Miller, Smith, Bartlett, Allen; Stearns, Richard

MDI IP H R ER BB SO

Megquier (W, 5-2) 7 5 4 2 1 7

John Bapst IP H R ER BB SO

Wadleigh (L, 2-5) 5 2/3 7 6 6 4 2

Richard 1 1/3 1 1 1 1 0

WP-Wadleigh; T-1:31; ATT-50 (est.)