SOUTH CHINA — It was a fitting if unsavory way for the Erskine softball team’s season to end Wednesday afternoon.
The team that leads the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference in heart-breaking losses, dropped yet another one-run game, this one a 2-1 decision to Morse after the visiting Shipbuilders scored twice in the seventh inning.
The loss also erased any chance the Eagles had of reaching the postseason. They entered the game a spot out of the money in Class B North and a victory against point-rich Morse could well have put them in.
A day after losing to once-beaten Gardiner in 13 innings, the Eagles lost their seventh game of the season by a single run to finish at 5-11. Morse is 12-4 and headed for the playoffs in Class B south.
“We have just one inning usually,” Erskine coach Holly Tripp said.
That inning came in the top of the seventh and spoiled an otherwise strong effort from sophomore pitcher Kayla Hodgkins. The ball never left the infield as the Shipbuilders scored twice on two infield hits, one a bunt, a walk and two errors.
“We’re really young this year,” senior catcher Taylor McLaggan said of the Eagles. “Standing here today it’s really hard to walk away.”
McLaggan scored Erskine’s only run of the game in the first inning when she singled with two out and came home on Hodgkins’ triple to right-center. The Eagles managed just two hits off Morse junior Marissa Parks after that, a single from Alexis Bonenfant in the second and a base hit from Hodgkins in the fourth.
“We’ve come a long way,” Morse coach Wil Laffely said. “This group gets along very well, not a lot of drama like you sometimes see. Every time there’s a play on everybody seems to move and everybody is backing up a base. It’s just a really nice group to work with.”
Hodgkins allowed four hits, struck out three and walked two, one of those a free pass to Olivia Potter to open the seventh inning. Dory Kulis bunted for a hit and an overthrow to first put runners at the corners. Potter scored on a ground ball to short and Kulis came home on Kelsea Albertson’s infield hit.
“We’ve really come together as a team,” said Morse senior Hope Faulkingham, who singled and doubled. Faulkingham was stranded at second in the sixth inning when Hodgkins got Parks to pop up to the mound.
“I’ve had a joy catching for her,” McLaggan said of Hodgkins. “She knows where to put the pitch.”
The Eagles appeared to have a two-out rally started in the bottom of the sixth when Hodgkins hit a shot down the right-field line. But Morse freshman Kali Pierce made a sliding catch to end the threat.
“I moved her over three steps,” Laffely said. “Usually when I move her over it goes the other way. Her first year of softball was last year as an eighth-grader so she’s come a long way.”
The Eagles lose four seniors, including Bonenfant, McLaggan, Faith Krause and Jenna Lully.
“My infield is going to be pretty solid (next year),” Tripp said. “I think these girls learned a lot this year. My seniors stepped up. They were great role models. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
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