WINSLOW — The bats are back for the Winslow softball team.
Backed by balanced offense and a plethora of Medomak errors, the Black Raiders cruised to a 15-3 Eastern B prelim victory Tuesday at LeVerdiere Field in a game that was shortened to five innings.
The game helped Winslow (12-5) snap a three-game losing streak.
“(Medomak) made some mistakes and we mixed in hits and it just kind of snowballed from there,” Winslow coach Steve Bodge said. “Early in the year we were doing that, hitting the ball well and taking advantage of mistakes.”
After jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, Winslow plated 10 runs in the second off Medomak pitcher Gabby DePatsy. Jenna Petrovic led the charge with an RBI double to deep center field. Hannah Doble, Brooke Haskell and Sarah Guimond each added RBI singles for the Black Raiders.
Medomak aided the 10-run inning by making six errors. The Panthers (7-10) finished with 11 miscues.
Doble held the Panthers in check in the circle for Winslow, keeping Medomak hitless in the first three innings. Doble said she felt at ease in the circle thanks to the offensive output.
“It felt really good,” Doble said. “It makes me feel confident on the mound having that leverage.”
She also had help from her defense, which displayed some excellent leather during the stretch, including a running catch by Petrovic near the right field fence on a hard line drive by Hallie Kunesh.
“We played pretty solid defense,” Bodge said. “(Medomak) hit a lot of balls in the outfield. We made a lot of catches out there, it was great. We have nine athletes at nine positions, so it’s really exciting.”
The Black Raiders added two more runs to their lead in the third, led by an RBI single by Hayley Pottle.
Medomak showed fight in the fourth inning, notching three runs on four hits — all singles. Winslow answered back in the bottom of the inning by adding three more runs, highlighted by an RBI single by Petrovic and a two-single by Haskell. The duo each finished with three RBIs for Winslow.
Doble gave up two singles in the top of the fifth but induced two outs on pop-fouls to close the door on the Panthers.
Winslow — the No. 6 seed in the Eastern B playoffs — sets up a rematch of last year’s playoffs when it meets Hermon in the quarterfinal round. The Hawks (14-2) ended the Black Raiders’ season a with a 10-5 win last season.
“It was 10-2 (last year) and we came back to 10-5. It was crazy,” Doble said. “I think we’re going to do a lot better this year. We know we can hit, and it’s the same pitcher (for Hermon) as last year. I really think we’re going to go in there, crank the ball and make some plays.”
Dave Dyer — 621-5639
ddyer@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @Dave_Dyer
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