FARMINGDALE — His team trotted back to the dugout trailing by three runs after its first inning of the season. But Carrabec fill-in softball coach Troy Dunphy wasn’t about to panic.
“First game of the year. They just had to get their bearings,” he said. “We just had a little chat, said ‘Do what you do,’ and it turned around.”
That it did. The Carrabec offense rose to the challenge, posting a pair of five-run innings en route to a 12-4 victory over Hall-Dale in its season opener.
“Everybody just needed a couple of innings to get warmed up. That’s all there is to it,” said Dunphy, taking over for the afternoon for absent head coach Craig Knight. “Our goal is six or seven runs a game. That’s our goal, tonight we beat that and we kept them down. (But) we were a tad worried.”
For good reason. Things looked ominous after the first inning, when Hall-Dale (1-1) erased a quick 1-0 Carrabec lead by sending all nine batters to the plate en route to a 4-1 advantage. The Cobras knew they were in a hole, but that they also had the ability to climb out of it.
“I was a little nervous, but I know we’ve got a good team,” first baseman Cheyenne Sirois said. “We came together and did well.”
Carrabec jumped ahead in the third, notching three hits and benefitting from three Hall-Dale errors to score five runs and take a 6-4 lead. The Cobras jumped ahead on the loudest hit of the day, a drive from Sirois that sailed over the left fielder’s head and landed just feet from the fence for a double, scoring Lexi Cowan (two hits, two runs, RBI) from second and sending Sirois to third on the throw.
“We had a talk before, Lexi was on second and I was just trying to get her home,” said Sirois, who eventually scored the fifth and final run of the inning. “You just feel it, it just feels good when you hit it right. I think you just know when you get a good hit.”
Hall-Dale stayed within striking distance until Carrabec struck again in the top of the sixth. Defense continued to plague the Bulldogs, who made two errors in the inning, but the Cobras pounded out six hits to put the game out of reach, with Cowan, Jasmine Pray and Abby Richardson notching run-scoring singles.
“It feels really great, because we’re such a young team and a lot of us don’t have much experience,” said third baseman Mackenzie Baker, who drove in the final run in the seventh inning and finished with three hits and two runs. “To see it all come together was nice. … We’re mentally tough. It’s a good, solid team, and we don’t give up when we get down.”
Bailey Dunphy (two hits, four runs) and Mackenzie Edes (two hits) also had standout days at the plate for the Cobras, who got 15 hits and at least one from each starter.
“Everybody had a hit, and we’ve spent hours and hours and hours on hitting,” Coach Dunphy said. “It’s going to pay off. I can tell that it’s going to pay off for them.”
Sam LeBeau got the win in the circle, rebounding from a rough first inning with six shutout frames, allowing only four hits. She struck out five.
“Sam picked up her pitching after that,” Coach Dunphy said. “She’s been our starting pitcher since she was a freshman. The pitching-catching combo (with Bailey Dunphy) has been there, and it’s a good combo. As good as there is in the MVC.”
The rally negated the hot start by Hall-Dale, which got a two-run single from Justine Drappeau and an RBI single from Amanda Benner in the first. The bats mustered little after that, and struggles in the field (six errors) made things worse as the Carrabec offense heated up.
“If you give a team that can put the bat on the ball extra outs, they’re going to make you pay,” coach Stephen Acedo said. “We threw the ball away a few times, but we’ve got a young team. They’ll learn from it.”
Acedo’s tone was light after the game, and that’s a big reason why. With freshmen and sophomores making up nine of the 13 roster spots, Acedo knows his team is still a work in progress.
“They learn from the mistakes when they make them, and they fix them the next time,” he said. “It’s a learning experience, but they’ve got a great attitude. They stay positive.”
Drew Bonifant — 621-5638
dbonifant@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @dbonifantMTM
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