NEWPORT — In the biggest game of its young season, all it took for the Nokomis softball team to win was one big inning — and Mia Coots.
The Warriors scored four runs in the third inning, and Coots — a junior and Nokomis’ top pitcher — took it from there on the way to a 5-2 win over Lawrence in a Class B North clash on Friday afternoon.
“I really like our team this year, we’re really tough and I think we’re going to be the team to beat this year,” Coots said. “Going in, we knew that Lawrence was going to be the hardest team we faced.”
Coots — last year’s Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B Player of the Year — allowed two runs on five hits and struck out 15 batters for the Warriors (5-0).
“I know all of those girls inside and out and love them to death,” Coots said. “Going in, (the mindset) was just keep it simple. Get on base, make things happen. And on defense, just play tough D.”
Camryn King had a double and a triple for Nokomis, while teammate Meg Watson had two hits, including an RBI triple. Nokomis punched out eight hits, a welcome sight for head coach J.D. McLellan, who wanted to see offensive improvement entering the season.
“I wanted to see girls, if they were going to go down, I wanted them to go down swinging,” McLellan said. “We’ve been working on hitting, because our offense has been weak in the past couple years. We’ve been working hard on that. To score that many against a good team is really good. I was happy with that.”
Coots out-dueled Lawrence (4-2) pitcher Sage Reed, who put on a fine performance of her own, striking out 14 batters. Gabbie Nickerson had a double for the Bulldogs, while Ruby Pierce had an RBI single.
Both teams cruised through two scoreless innings, but the Lawrence defense struggled in the bottom of the third inning, as the Bulldogs committed two errors and suffered a passed ball as the Warriors collected four runs for a 4-0 lead. A two-run double by Nokomis third baseman Jenna Sawtelle was the highlight of the inning.
The Bulldogs scored their first run of the game in the fifth, when Pierce plated Nickerson from second with her RBI single. But the Warriors responded in the bottom of the inning, when Watson cracked a Reed pitch into right field for her triple, scoring Hope Brooks from first base for the 5-1 lead.
Nokomis’s Megan Watson scores before Lawrence catcher Jase Sullivan, left, can apply the tag during Friday’s game in Newport. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Senti
Lawrence added one more run in the sixth, when a Reed single to right field scored Jazmin Johnson to cut the score to 5-2. But Coots was simply too much, mixing a blistering fastball with an off-speed pitch that flustered Lawrence hitters all afternoon.
“It just feels so good to have my team behind me,” Coots said. “The chemistry is unreal. We’re playing for each other and we’re playing for one big goal, a state championship.”
Lawrence head coach Joey Marcoux was happy with his team’s fight in trying to come back from its tough third inning.
“You can’t give up four runs to a good team in one inning,” Marcoux said. “We had a passed ball, an error, they had a couple of timely hits and before you know it, you’re giving up four runs. But I was really pleased with our effort to come back. (Coots) hasn’t given up very many runs all season. We got two today. So we proved to ourselves that we’re capable of doing something against her. We play them again, and we might play them a third time, who knows?”
Through five games, Nokomis has scored 61 runs, while allowing just three. The Warriors entered the game at the top of the Class B North standings. Lawrence was fifth. The rivals, each a favorite to eventually meet in the regional final, will meet again May 26 in Fairfield.
“We’ll be seeing them (all the way through) the playoffs,” McLellan said. “(The win) is enormous. We had very few mistakes that I would say was a major mistake. … Late in the game, I was nervous, because I know what (Lawrence) is like, and (Marcoux) is an excellent coach. But we played well, and Mia pitched great.”
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