Upstart Indians claim EM crown

AUGUSTA – Skowhegan softball coach Lee Johnson would like to be able to say this was all part of an elaborate plan he had, coming all the way back a .500 regular-season record, the No. 12 playoff seeding, and a preliminary playoff game on the road, but that would be lying.

“I wish I could explain how it’s done, but I really have no idea,” an elated Johnson said while shaking his head. “They’re just resilient. They never gave up.”

The Indians’ never-say-die approach got them all the way to Wednesday night’s Eastern Maine Class A championship game against No. 6 Cony on Cony’s home field. Their relaxed demeanor and talent gave them a 4-0 victory over the Rams at Cony Family Field.

Well, that and an outstanding effort on the mound from Katlyn Steward, who threw 55 of her 74 total pitches for strikes.

“She spots the ball as well as anyone I’ve ever seen,” said Johnson. “She throws pretty hard, but she also changes levels and keeps you guessing where she’s going to throw it. She’s a hard one to get a read on.”

The 12-8 Indians take on West champ Scarborough Saturday for the state title. Sixth seed Cony finishes its season 14-6. Good thing the Indians aren’t bothered by big-game pressure.

“I don’t think they even know enough to be nervous,” Johnson said with a laugh. “Sometimes I think they actually calm me down.”

“Hey, we were totally relaxed,” Steward said. We had nothing to lose, knowing no one expected us to do much, so it was pretty easy to stay loose.”

Skowhegan’s senior lefty pitched a four-hitter, struck out two batters, walked none and hit one batter.

“I knew it wasn’t all me and I could just throw strikes with my defense behind me,” Steward said. “My inside pitches were working good and I used them to spot my outside pitches.

“I live on the outside as a left-handed pitcher, so I’ve been working on going inside more to keep them off-balance.”

Off-balance they were. When the Rams were able to make solid contact, the ball was usually drilled right at someone wearing a black-and-orange jersey.

“They made the plays today and they took advantage when we didn’t,” said Cony coach Rocky Gaslin. “Both teams hit line drives, but most of them were right at people. I think they just found more holes than we did.”

The Indians’ big inning came in the third as they scored three runs on two hits, a walk and an error. Sandy Johnson led off with a single, Mikayla Hancock drew a walk and Megan Hancock bunted them both over with a sacrifice.

Emily Hodgdon then drilled an 0-1 pitch into shallow left to score Johnson. After a groundout, Brittany Gould’s bloop up the right-field line fell out of Cony right fielder Amy Jones’ glove as Jones was sprinting in to make the basket catch. That allowed Hancock and Hodgdon to score.

Skowhegan added an insurance run in the sixth courtesy of a leadoff single by Gould and a one-out double over the center fielder’s head by Samantha Gray.

“I don’t think that big inning really deflated us,” said Gaslin. “What deflated us is not getting on base as much as we like and hitting line drives right at people.”

Cony threatened in the seventh as a single and an error put runners at second and third, but Steward escaped with a groundout to second and then one to first to end the game.