OLD TOWN – It can be difficult for a team to maintain its focus while sitting in a dugout and waiting out a long rain delay.

The Old Town Coyotes stayed loose and joked around while they and Bucksport rode out an hour-long rain delay Tuesday, and the hosts made three first-inning runs stand up in a 5-2 Class B softball victory in each team’s regular-season finale.

The game was delayed with one out in the top of the third after a thunderstorm rolled through.

“The girls did a great job [staying focused], they stayed loose, that’s one thing we’ve been doing all year for the most part,” said Old Town coach Lester Cowan, whose club winds up 10-6 and should host a preliminary-round game.

The Coyotes jumped on Bucksport senior righthander Keely Sullivan early.

Ashley Goodwin led off the home half of the first with a sharp single, Whitney Leland drew a walk and Hannah Morin plated both runners with a deep double to center.

“We just wanted to be patient and not swing at the junk that [Sullivan] pitches,” said Goodwin, who was 2-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base.

Patience at the plate was the key to the Coyotes’ eight-hit attack, as they consistently found themselves in hitters counts throughout the game.

“[Sullivan] throws a lot of good pitches but they’re not right down the middle so we just laid off them and waited until we got our pitch,” said senior right fielder Jenna Winegardner.

Old Town tacked on single runs in the second and fourth, with Leland driving in Micayla Hussey each time. Hussey reached on an error in the second, stole second, reached third on a wild pitch and strode home on Leland’s single. Leland doubled in Hussey in the fourth.

“… We couldn’t throw the pitches we wanted to throw, they were good hits, they were in the gap,” said Golden Bucks coach Mike Carrier, whose team finishes 7-9.

Bucksport got on the board in the top half of the third as Emily Lenor doubled and scored on an error while Catie Denning plated Meagan Harriman, who had reached on the same error, with an RBI groundout.

But other than that, they couldn’t string together any legitimate threats against Old Town’s Morin, who surrendered just one unearned run on four hits while striking out 10 and walking only two.

“She pitched her game, her changeup was on tonight, that’s her key pitch, the changeup,” said Cowan.

One a handful of teams jockeying for position in the Class B ranks and coming off a big win against Mattanawcook of Lincoln, Old Town wanted to keep the momentum going heading into the playoffs.

“It’s always good to get a win going into [the] postseason, if we stay focused we have a good shot at going a long ways,” Cowan said. “The girls have done far beyond what I expected for the year.”

Morin improved to 8-4.

Sullivan, who struck out six, was the Bucks’ lone repeat hitter with a double in the second and a single in the sixth.

rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net

990-8193

COYOTES 5, GOLDEN BUCKS 2

Bucksport (7-9) Old Town (10-6)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Lenor, c 3 1 1 0 Goodwin, 3b 4 1 0

Harriman, cf 3 1 0 0 Leland, ss 3 1 2

Denning, ss 2 0 0 1 Morin, p 2 1 1

Sullivan, p 3 0 2 0 Wilcox, lf 3 0 0

Bowden, rf 3 0 0 0 Winegardner, rf 3 0 0

Pelletier, 3b 3 0 0 0 Singer, c 3 1

Panaro, lf 2 0 1 0 M. Cossar, 1b 3 0 0

Sutherland, 1b 3 0 0 0 Campbell, cf 3 0

Beeson, 2b 3 0 0 0 A. Cossar, cf 1 0 0

Hussey, 2b 2 2 1 0

Totals 25 2 4 1 Totals 27 5 8 4

Bucksport 000 200 0 – 2

Old Town 310 100 x – 5

E-Denning; Singer; LOB-Bucksport 4, Old Town 6; 2B-Sullivan, Lenor; Leland; 3B-Morin; S-Sutherland, Pelletier; SB-Hussey, Goodwin

Bucksport IP H R ER BB SO

Sullivan (L, 7-9) 6 8 5 5 2 6

Old Town IP H R ER BB SO

Morin (W, 8-4) 7 4 2 1 2 10

WP-Sullivan; Morin; PB-Lenor; T-2:08; ATT-90 (est.)