Putting run in home run Two inside-the-park shots by Eagles sink Crusaders

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ELLSWORTH – Catie Cravens has never been that fast around the bases. Jen Richter hadn’t hit well in previous years.

Yet both Ellsworth High softball players recorded inside-the-park home runs as the Eagles continued their undefeated season with a 10-1 victory over John Bapst of Bangor Tuesday afternoon at the high school field.

Cravens paced an 11-hit attack that helped the Eagles, ranked second in Tuesday’s Eastern Maine Class B Heal points, move to 6-0. In addition to her fifth-inning homer, Cravens singled, doubled, and reached base on an error.

“I think the bats were working for us today,” said Cravens, who scattered four hits while striking out six in the win. “We said at the beginning of the game we needed to come out swinging and we did.”

The Eagles capitalized on six errors by the 4-3 Crusaders, which disappointed Bapst coach Bill Baker.

“We’d worked hard in practice, but it seemed like it was contagious,” he said. “It was infield, outfield, one right after the other. I really think the score wasn’t indicative of the game. We stretched out some innings. But we’ll work on things and tighten it up.”

Both teams struggled in the field during the first inning – Bapst’s Whitney Sinclair singled and scored an unearned run, while the Crusaders committed two errors in the first and another in the second that allowed Ellsworth’s Tasha Manning to reach base.

Sabrina Jellison and Cravens sparked Ellsworth’s offense with RBIs in the first. Jellison hit an RBI single in the second to plate Manning.

“That’s the key to the game, taking advantage when they make errors,” Richter said. “You have to jump on it when they give it to you.”

Richter’s home run to right-center in the third also scored pinch runner Sarah Homich for a 5-1 Ellsworth lead.

Cravens conceded she’s not the fastest runner – one of the reasons she’s never hit a home run before – so Homich usually comes in to run when Cravens reaches base. Homich scored two runs Tuesday.

Richter credited Rick Roberts, an assistant coach to Ray Silsby, with her improved offense.

“This the first year I’ve been able to hit thanks to this guy,” she said. “At the beginning of the season, he went through [the lineup] and fixed whatever we had wrong.”

Both Richter and Cravens clouted their home runs on the first pitch from Bapst’s Danielle Richard in their respective at-bats.

“She throws strikes,” Richter said. “Our coaches said to jump on the first pitch because it’s almost guaranteed to be a strike. If you can hit that one right away, you can catch them off guard.”

Manning added RBI singles in the fifth and sixth innings, while Maggie Seavey singled, drove in a run, and scored in the sixth.

Sinclair finished with two singles.

EAGLES 10, CRUSADERS 1

John Bapst (4-3) Ellsworth (6-0)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Sinclair, 2b 4 1 2 0 Miller, rf 4 2 0

Ka. Harvey, ss 3 0 0 0 Jellison, cf 4 2

Da. Richard, p 3 0 1 0 Seavey, ss 4 1

Laferriere, 1b 3 0 0 0 Cravens, p 4 2

Toomey, 3b 3 0 1 0 Homich, pr 0 2 0

Perkins, c 2 0 0 0 Rockwood, c 4 0 0

Lawrence, lf 3 0 0 0 Wyman, pr 0 1 0

De. Richard, cf 2 0 0 0 Richter, 3b 4 1

Horne, rf 0 0 0 0 Manning, dh 4 1 1

Ky. Harvey, rf-cf 2 0 0 0 Peer, 2b 0 0

Ogden, ph 1 0 0 0 Harding, 1b 4 0 0

Blanchard, lf 3 0 0 0

Totals 26 1 4 0 Totals 35 10 11 7

John Bapst 100 000 0 – 1

Ellsworth 212 023 x – 10

E-Ka. Harvey 2, Da. Richard 2, Toomey, Perkins; Seavey, Cravens, Harding; LOB-John Bapst 6, Ellsworth 6; 2B-Cravens; HR-Cravens (1), Richter (1); DP-Perkins-Sinclair; Peer-Harding; SB-Ka. Harvey, Toomey; Miller, Seavey

John Bapst IP H R ER BB SO

Da. Richard (L, 4-3) 6 11 10 5 0 3

Ellsworth IP H R ER BB SO

Cravens (W, 5-0) 7 4 1 0 1 6

HBP-Perkins (by Cravens); WP-Da. Richard; PB-Perkins; T-1:35; ATT-50 (est.)