BREWER – It’s tough enough to beat the Brewer softball team when Melanie Judkins is mowing down hitters left and right.

The task becomes even more arduous when the Witches are hitting on all cylinders.

Messalonskee of Oakland learned those lessons the hard way Friday night as Judkins fired a one-hitter and Brewer pounded out eight hits en route to a 6-0 KVAC Class A victory at Coffin Field.

Judkins retired the first 10 Eagles in order, struck out nine, walked only one and faced just 23 batters, two over the minimum.

“All my pitches were working well, I just tried to work the corners in spots where they weren’t swinging at,” said Judkins.

The Eagles’ initial baserunner came in the top of the fourth as Juliana Fekete reached on an error while the only hit Judkins surrendered was a flare by Mackenzie Labbe between the second baseman and right fielder in the fifth.

The Eagles made their only serious threat in that inning, as Brit Corey walked and advanced to second on a passed ball before Labbe singled.

Labbe then stole second, but Judkins got the next batter to pop to second and struck out the last two to end the frame.

The Witches jumped on Messalonskee hurler Chelsea Smith early and often, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first, two more in the third and single runs in the fourth and fifth.

“Usually when we jump on them early we know we have it because it builds our confidence and gets us pumped,” said senior outfielder Dominique DeFilipp, whose sister Allie belted a two-run triple to the centerfield fence in the third to give the 10-1 Witches a 4-0 advantage.

“One of our first goals we set at the beginning of the season was to score first,” said leadoff hitter Sarah Risser, who got Brewer started in the first with a single, a stolen base and came around to score the game’s first run on Meghan McLain’s RBI single.

Leah Jackson then plated McLain with a single of her own and advanced to third on an error on the play.

“It helped us a lot to get runs right off, once that happened I think we were pretty pumped,” Judkins said.

While Judkins was keeping the Eagles’ batters off balance, the Witches were playing sound defense behind her, committing just one error.

“We’re averaging less than one error a game, the girls are playing great defense,” said Brewer coach Harry “Skip” Estes, whose club came into the contest ranked atop the Heal Point standings.

Risser added, “We had a very strong game defensively, we have to support [Judkins] because she’s doing great.”

Risser knocked in a run with a single to center in the fourth while Maria Liberatore capped the scoring with an RBI single in the fifth.

Allie DeFilipp finished 2-for-3, doubling and scoring on Liberatore’s single while McLain was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Messalonskee fell to 4-6 on the season. Smith walked only one while striking out five in taking the loss.

rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net

990-8193

WITCHES 6, EAGLES 0

Messalonskee (4-6) Brewer (10-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hachey, ss 3 0 0 0 Risser, 2b 2 1 1

Weeks, rf 3 0 0 0 Alexiewicz, ph 1 0 0

Fekete, c 3 0 0 0 D. DeFilipp, lf 3 1 0

Boulette, 1b 3 0 0 0 McLain, ss 3 2 1

Corey, dh 1 0 0 0 Jackson, c 3 0 1

Workman, pr 0 0 0 0 A. DeFilipp, 3b 3 1 2

Newman, ph 1 0 0 0 Liberatore, dh 3 0 1

Labbe, lf 3 0 1 0 Judkins, p 3 0 0

Lawler, 3b 2 0 0 0 Knowles, 1b 1 1 0

Corbett, cf 2 0 0 0 Nickerson, ph 1 0 0

Eugley, 2b 2 0 0 0 Fraser, cf 2 0 0

Smith, p 0 0 0 0 Adams, ph 1 0 0

Totals 23 0 1 0 Totals 26 6 8 6

Messalonskee 000 000 0 – 0

Brewer 202 110 x – 6

E-Labbe, Eugley; McLain; LOB-Messalonskee 3, Brewer 4; 2B-A. DeFilipp; 3B-A. DeFilipp; SB-Labbe; Risser

Messalonskee IP H R ER BB SO

Smith (L, 4-6) 6 8 6 6 1 5

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Judkins (W, 8-1) 7 1 0 0 1 9

PB-Jackson; T-1:20; ATT-100 (est.)