BREWER – Brewer High School’s Mel Judkins was so focused on coming out of Saturday afternoon’s Class A softball game against Hampden Academy with a win, she never noticed the zeros in Hampden’s hitting column.

Judkins was one of the last to find out she’d pitched her first varsity no-hitter in a dramatic 2-1 victory over the Broncos at Coffin Field.

“I actually didn’t know, until after the game was over,” said the Witches’ sophomore pitcher. “I had a lot of them in middle school.”

If she keeps pitching as she did Saturday, she may have a lot more of them in high school.

“She’s very seasoned for her age. She was hurt and couldn’t play the first three weeks of the season, so she’s just starting to get into form now,” said Brewer coach Harry “Skip” Estes, whose Witches improved to 12-1.

Judkins (5-1) threw 72 of 116 pitches (62 percent) for strikes while racking up 15 strikeouts and giving up one unearned run and two walks.

“I think everything was working pretty well. I threw all my pitches and didn’t have too much trouble with any,” said the righthander. “It’s almost always about speed for me, but today I think it was speed and location. I got squeezed a little, but I was able to adjust. I’m used to working the corners to keep them off balance.”

She did that with at least seven of the hitters in Hampden’s starting lineup as she struck out each of them twice. She also struck out the side twice.

The Witches improved to 12-1 with the regular-season sweep of the Broncos, but much like the first win (4-2), it didn’t come easy.

Brewer broke out on top quickly with a run in the first via a leadoff walk to Sarah Risser, a two-out groundout and an infield throwing error.

Hampden tied it by taking advantage of a Brewer error in the sixth.

Kasey Belcher drew a leadoff walk and pinch runner Sarah Lamberton went to second on a wild pitch. After Judkins struck out the next two batters, she was poised to escape the jam, but a fly ball to left was dropped, allowing Lamberton to score. A flyout to center avoided further damage and stranded a Hampden runner at second.

Brewer No. 9 hitter Emily Fraser was hit by a pitch to lead off the seventh and then stole second.

Risser then hit a sharp bunt to the right side off a 2-1 pitch that sliced just a few inches to the right of charging pitcher Lacey Littlefield’s glove and well away from the first baseman. Risser made it easily and Fraser never stopped running, making it home safely just ahead of the throw and ending the game.

“They were charging, so I tried to push it past them to at least move the runner over,” Risser explained. “At first I didn’t know what was going on, but I was hoping the game was over. I’m sure the plan was to run no matter what because she’s our fastest runner.

It was part of Brewer’s overall plan.

“We put a lot of pressure on. I think we stole more bases today than we have in any game this year,” said Estes.

Brewer stole six bases.

Littlefield (8-3) turned in a solid effort despite the loss with one earned run, four walks, five hits and nine strikeouts in six-plus innings of work for the 9-4 Broncos.

aneff@bangordailynews.net

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WITCHES 2, BRONCOS 1

(Saturday Afternoon)

Hampden Academy (9-4) Brewer (12-1)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Littlefield, p 2 0 0 0 Risser, 2b 1 1

Wells, 2b 2 0 0 0 D.DeFilipp, lf 3 0 0

Gott, c 3 0 0 0 McLain, ss 3 0 0

Shannon, cf 3 0 0 0 Jackson, c 2 0 0

Luetjen, rf 2 0 0 0 A.DeFilipp, 3b 2 0 0

Carlisle, lf 3 0 0 0 Libertatore, dh 3 0 0

Plowman, 3b 3 0 0 0 Kenney, rf 0 0 0

Shannon, 3b 0 0 0 0 Judkins, p 3 0 0

Belcher, 1b 1 0 0 0 Adams, pr 0 0 0

Lamberton, pr 0 1 0 0 Knowles, 1b 3 0

Haase, ss 2 0 0 0 Fraser, cf 2 1 0

Totals 21 1 0 0 Totals 22 2 5 1

Hampden 000 001 0 – 1

Brewer 100 000 1 – 2

E-Wells; D. DeFilipp; LOB-Hampden 3; Brewer 7; S-Wells; Risser; SB-Adams, Fraser 2, Risser 2, Jackson

Hampden IP H R ER BB SO

Littlefield (L, 8-3) 6 5 2 1 4 9

Brewer IP H R ER BB SO

Judkins (W, 5-1) 7 0 1 0 2 15

HBP-Littlefield (by Judkins); Fraser (by Littlefield); WP-Littlefield 2; Judkins 4; T-1:42; ATT-158