Raiders edge Bucks for title Victory avenges loss in ’06 final

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BREWER – All Krystal Lacombe was supposed to do was bunt over a teammate who was on first with no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning during Tuesday night’s Eastern Maine Class B softball final.

That wasn’t what Winslow High’s No. 9 hitter wanted to do, however.

“I’m not that great of a bunter, but I was supposed to bunt,” she said. “But [with two strikes] I knew I had to hit. That’s what I wanted to do anyway.”

That’s just what she did.

Lacombe’s single to right in the bottom of the seventh inning allowed pinch-runner Lindsay Gordon to score the game-winning run as the No. 1 Black Raiders rallied for a 4-3 victory over No. 6 Bucksport at fan-filled Coffin Field.

Not only did Winslow (18-1) win its eighth EM Class B championship and 10th overall (two in Class A), but coach Terry Parlin’s Raiders avenged a 3-1 loss to the Golden Bucks (16-4) in the 2006 EM final.

“We really wanted what we didn’t have last year,” said senior Brynne Davis, who had an RBI double during Winslow’s sixth-inning rally. “We didn’t hit well last year, but we’re finally hitting now. It was perfect.”

Winslow moves on to the Class B state title game at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Joseph’s College in Standish to face Cape Elizabeth which beat Greely of Cumberland Center 6-2 for the Western Maine title.

Lacombe hit a 1-2 outside curveball from Bucksport pitcher Terren Hall. The line drive landed in right and the Bucks had trouble fielding the ball. Gordon, who was running for Kristen Cormier (leadoff single), scampered home on the single and error.

Hall kept the Raiders off-balance early, allowing just one hit and two other baserunners along with six strikeouts in the first five innings. Bucksport, meanwhile, took advantage of five Winslow errors for a 3-0 lead.

The Black Raiders came alive in the sixth with three runs on five hits, including two runs on a Katie Caron double.

“I think we needed to see a couple of rounds of [Hall],” Lacombe said.

Jillian Smith and Ali Kriegel started the inning with back-to-back bloop singles to right. Davis, who will attend the University of Maine next year along with Hall, then hit a line-drive double to center for Winslow’s first run.

Caron drilled her double to the 200-foot fence in left-center.

“We threw everything at them,” Bucksport coach Mike Carrier said. “They’re just good hitters. We were throwing changeups, curveballs, dropballs, rises, it didn’t matter. They hit the ball well.”

Leadoff batter Hall and the Golden Bucks got off to a hot start. In the top of the first she singled and eventually scored on an error. In the second, Sara Winters tripled to right and came home on a Keely Sullivan sacrifice fly.

Hall singled and scored on an error again in the fifth. But the Golden Bucks stranded four runners, two in scoring position, in the final two innings.

“That’s just part of the game. They had a bunch of missed opportunities, too,” said Carrier, whose Bucks have faced Winslow 11 times in the postseason and have a 6-5 edge. “When you play a good team, somebody’s got to win and somebody’s got to lose. Unfortunately, this time it was us.”

BLACK RAIDERS 4, GOLDEN BUCKS 3

Bucksport (16-4) Winslow (18-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hall, p 4 2 2 0 Smith, cf 2 1 0

Breidt, 1b 3 0 0 0 Kriegel, lf 3 1 0

Harriman, pr 0 0 0 0 Turner, c 3 0 0

Hurd, c 3 0 0 0 Davis, 2b 3 1 1

Winslow, pr 0 0 0 0 Cheesman, rf 3 0 0

A. Sullivan, ss 4 0 1 0 Caron, ss 3 2

Kay. Allen, rf 4 0 0 0 Fisher, 3b 3 0

Winters, 3b 3 1 1 0 Cormier, 1b 3 0 0

K. Sullivan, 2b 2 0 2 1 Gordon, pr 0 0

Benson, pr 0 0 0 0 Lacombe, dh 3 0 0

Kat. Allen, cf 3 0 1 0

Hutchins, lf 0 0 0 0

Lenor, lf 2 0 0 0

Totals 28 3 7 1 Totals 26 4 8 3

Bucksport 110 010 0 – 3

Winslow 000 003 1 – 4

E-Winters, Kay. Allen; Smith 2, Davis, Fisher, Cormier; LOB-Bucksport 7, Winslow 5; 2B-Davis, Caron; 3B-Winters; S-Breidt; SF-K. Sullivan

Bucksport IP H R ER BB SO

Hall (L, 10-3) 6 8 4 3 1 6

Winslow IP H R ER BB SO

Knowlen (W, 10-0) 7 7 3 1 2 5

Hall faced two batters in the seventh

PB-Hurd; T-1:19; ATT-800 (est.)