AUGUSTA — Danielle Hall won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

The Messalonskee High School freshman left fielder went 3 for 4 with her first career home run, two doubles and two RBIs to power the Eagles to a key 10-6 win over Cony in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A softball game Monday at Cony Family Field. It was the highest run total of the season for Messalonskee (7-6), which also scored double digits in runs for the first time this season.

“She’s going to be up with us full time,” Messalonskee coach Samantha Moore said of Hall, who spent the majority of the early part of the season with the junior varsity. “She just looks like she belongs here. I think she fits right in, and I think the biggest part of that is these girls being so welcoming to her here and making her feel comfortable.”

Senior center fielder McKenna Brodeur also provided a big bat for Messalonskee. She, too, hit her first career home run as part of a 2 for 4 day at the plate with two RBIs.

Brodeur’s blast to straightaway center, a solo shot, came in the fifth inning and allowed winning pitcher Alyssa Smith to settle into a rhythm after running into some trouble in the second and third frames.

“It’s coming from everybody,” Brodeur said of the Eagle offense, which after scoring at least seven runs only once in its first 11 games has now done it in each of its last two. “We knew everybody could hit originally, but now everyone is finding their bat and putting it where they want it instead of right at people, which happened a lot in the beginning of the season.”

Hall scored three runs out of the No. 8 hole in the lineup, opening up a 3-0 lead for the Eagles in the second inning with her homer to left-center field that drove in Sierra McLellan (2 for 3), who led off the inning with a single to right.

Hall was far from done, adding the first of her two doubles in a two-run fourth and ripping another two-bagger to left as part of a two-run sixth. Messalonskee raced out to a 7-4 lead through five rain-soaked innings.

“We’ve been practicing hitting as a team and really rallying around each other to try and get those (hits),” Hall said. “It’s been showing with our bats.”

Hall’s performance came just when the team needed it most. With Messalonskee entering the week at No. 8 in the Class A North Heal point standings and Cony (5-8) at No. 10, both teams are jockeying for both playoff spots and seeding. The win was the fourth in a row for the Eagles and their sixth in their last seven games.

Despite hanging tough with third baseman Alexis Couverette’s two-run single in the bottom of the third to make it a 5-4 game, the game then began to slip away from Cony. The fourth and final error of the afternoon for the Rams, coupled with a pair of Cari Hopkins wild pitches, opened the gates to a three-run sixth inning for Messalonskee that put the game out of reach.

“We lack focus in some games. It seems that if we get one error, it’s catchy,” Cony coach Rocky Gaslin said. “Everything is contagious. Last game (against Mt. Ararat) the kids played very well, great defense, and we were focused and into it. We’re lacking some fundamentals at times.”

Smith, Mackenzie Charest and Julia Guerrette all enjoyed multiple-hit days as part of the Eagles’ 14-hit attack.

After Couverette (2 for 4) singled in the two runs in the third, Smith retired eight of the next nine she faced. Couverette broke up that streak with a double to lead off the sixth, and Alexis Everett collected an RBI single in the frame — but Smith retired the side in order to slam the door in the seventh, striking out the final two batters of the game to seal Messalonskee’s win.

“We’ve been trying to rally with both our offense and our defense, and that’s been showing with our bats,” Hall said. “Alyssa pitched a great game today, too, and this (win) is huge.”

Hopkins had two hits for Cony.

Travis Barrett — 621-5621

tbarrett@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TBarretGWC

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