HAMPDEN – As strong as the Hampden Academy softball team’s pitching has been this spring, the Broncos had been struggling at the plate going into Tuesday’s home game against Nokomis of Newport.

Not only did ace Lacey Littlefield shut down the Warriors’ bats, the Broncos got their own offense cranking as Jill Carlisle posted two singles with two RBIs and a run scored in a 4-0 KVAC North victory at the Weatherbee Complex.

It was apparent right from the get-go that Hampden’s hitting was starting to come around.

Although the 5-2 Broncos stranded two runners in the bottom of the first, they broke through for a run on three hits in the second.

Carlisle led it off with a single, moved to second on Kaitlyn Haase’s sacrifice bunt and to third on a single by Kasey Belcher.

After Morgan Doyon’s infield single loaded the bases, Michelle Wells beat out an infield hit to give Hampden a 1-0 lead and give Littlefield all the run support she’d need.

“We really didn’t want anybody to score, we’ve done pretty well this season in the field and we just needed our bats to come around,” said Littlefield, who earned her fourth shutout of the spring.

The Broncs gave Littlefield two more runs an inning later. Eva Shannon led off with a single, stole second and third, then came home on Brittany Luetjen’s sharp single to center.

Luetjen took a 3-2 fastball from Nokomis righty Patrice Cianchette and sent it right back where it came from.

“It seemed right down the middle, but our coach always tells us to put our hands to the ball and just keep your head on the ball,” said Luetjen, who advanced to third on the play on an outfield error.

Luetjen then came home on Carlisle’s RBI single to give Hampden a 3-0 lead.

The 3-4 Warriors threatened to close the gap in their half of the fourth, as Danielle White and Sammy Moore hit back-to-back singles.

Littlefield would get out of that jam easily, inducing an infield popup and striking out the final two batters to end it.

After that threat, the Broncos knew they had to stay aggressive at the plate, which they did.

Shannon led off the fifth with a double, took second on Luetjen’s sacrifice bunt, then Carlisle knocked Shannon home with an RBI groundout.

“It was definitely a nice cushion having the runs and knowing we were ahead, but we also knew we couldn’t sit on the lead,” said Shannon, who also scored two runs.

The two hits the Warriors collected in the fourth were the only two they got off Littlefield, who walked two and struck out 12.

“I felt like it was OK. I don’t know, I felt like maybe I could’ve done better,” said Littlefield.

Cianchette struck out six and didn’t walk a batter for Nokomis.

rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net

990-8193

BRONCOS 4, WARRIORS 0

Nokomis (3-4) Hampden Acad. (5-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Cianchette, p 3 0 0 0 Littlefield, p 3 0

White, ss-2b 3 0 1 0 Wells, 2b 3 0 1

Moore, c 2 0 1 0 Gott, c 3 0 0 0

Fuller, 3b 2 0 0 0 E. Shannon, cf 3 2 0

Mayo, ph 1 0 0 0 Luetjen, rf 3 1 1

Gray, 1b 2 0 0 0 Carlisle, lf 3 1 2

Orcutt, ph 1 0 0 0 Haase, ss 2 0 0

Hart, dh 3 0 0 0 Danforth, ph 1 0 0

Easler, lf 2 0 0 0 Belcher, 1b 2 0 0

Kent-Webber, rf 2 0 0 0 Lammerton, ph 1 0

Vaillancourt, 2b 1 0 0 0 L. Shannon, 3b 1 0

Slike, ss 1 0 0 0 Doyon, ph 1 0 0

Wyman, cf 0 0 0 0 Plowman, 3b 1 0 0

Totals 23 0 2 0 Totals 27 4 9 4

Nokomis 000 000 0 – 0

Hampden 012 010 x – 4

E-Wyman, Moore, Slike; LOB-Nokomis 2, Hampden 6; 2B-E. Shannon; DP-Nokomis 1, Hampden 1; S-Luetjen, Haase; SB-E. Shannon 2

Nokomis IP H R ER BB SO

Cianchette (L, 3-4) 6 9 4 4 0 6

Hampden IP H R ER BB SO

Littlefield (W 5-2) 7 2 0 0 2 12

T-1:30; ATT-85 (est.)