MADISON — Sister Act left Broadway six years ago, but it appears its run has restarted at Campbell Field this spring.
Left-handed-hitting Madison sisters Sydney LeBlanc and Lauria LeBlanc each clubbed three-run home runs to straightaway center field Thursday afternoon, powering the top-seeded and unbeaten Bulldogs to a 16-0, five-inning win over No. 9 Maranacook in the Class C South softball quarterfinals. Madison (17-0) advances to host No. 4 Winthrop at 2 p.m., Saturday in the regional semifinals.
Maranacook ended its season at 9-9.
“It’s nice to share this with (Sydney),” said Lauria LeBlanc, a sophomore, who threw a five-hit shutout at the Black Bears. “It’s something I’ll always remember.”
It was the first time either LeBlanc had hit a traditional home run during their respective careers, something they were pleased to have accomplished in the same game on a playoff stage. Both girls collected four RBIs on the afternoon.
“It’s awesome,” Sydney LeBlanc, a senior, said. “It’s pretty cool to have it happen on the same day as each other. It was a really good feeling.”
Sydney’s home run came on a 3-1 pitch from Maranacook freshman pitcher Natalie Costa in the first inning; Lauria’s came on a 2-2 offering in the third.
“The LeBlancs killed us today,” Maranacook coach Jeannine Paradis said. “It was the LeBlanc show, actually.”
“They’ve had the potential to do that,” Madison coach Chris LeBlanc said. “With both of them, they have a tendency to throw their front shoulder out and hit the ball to the left. We’ve really been working on a neutral stance and trying to throw that elbow at the pitcher to get things to go that way. It’s just working on those fundamentals and putting it all together.”
OUT OF THE GATE: The first eight Madison batters of the game reached base and scored in a 10-run first inning that sent the Bulldogs on their way to the lopsided victory.
Sydney LeBlanc’s round-tripper capped the big inning.
“Honestly, we were kind of nervous to start,” said Sydney LeBlanc, who was 2 for 3 with two runs scored. “We came down here early and got some good hitting in. We’d been trying to focus on hitting.”
Senior catcher Ashley Emery (3 for 4) led off the game with a single to left, the first of five straight hits off Costa — who was accurate, but almost too accurate against a potent, veteran Bulldog lineup.
“(Costa’s) really shown a lot of growth, and she’s going to continue to get better,” Paradis said. “She throws pretty quick, but we need to make sure we’re playing the defense behind her.”
It wasn’t until No. 9 hitter Emily Edgerly bounced into a fielder’s choice that Maranacook recorded the first out of the frame.
It was all the backing Lauria LeBlanc would need in the circle. She struck out four and didn’t walk anybody, at one point retiring 10 in a row.
“I thought it was a really good cushion,” she said. “I felt the stress go off of me immediately.”
ANOTHER GEAR: For a Madison team that scored 78 runs over its final six regular-season games, Thursday represented another gear still.
“I think we’ve been playing better, but I also think that they know the end is near,” Chris LeBlanc said. “They have the opportunity to control that. For the seniors, they don’t know any different.
“They wanted to make sure this wasn’t their last time on this field. They wanted to do it one more time Saturday, and then we want to go to our second home at St. Joe’s (site of the regional and state finals).”
The Bulldogs were ready to swing the bats from the first offering. They finished with 16 hits, scored runs in all four innings and never had fewer than six at-bats in any inning.
“We’ve tried to keep the same intensity all year,” Sydney LeBlanc said. “We try to keep things up in the dugout, and that’s what keeps us going.”
UP NEXT: In Saturday’s regional semifinal, Madison and Winthrop will lock horns for the second time this season after facing one another for the Class C South title last spring.
Madison posted a 1-0 win at Winthrop on May 2 behind Lauria LeBlanc’s one-hit shutout of the Ramblers.
Travis Barrett — 621-5621
tbarrett@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TBarrettGWC
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