GARDINER — For four innings Friday, the Gardiner softball team looked like it might pull off the upset of the Class B season as it led once-beaten Winslow by four runs.
But youth and exuberance can carry a team only so far and in the end, experience won out. The Black Raiders struck for nine unearned runs in the top of the fifth and senior pitcher Hillary Libby took care of the rest en route to a 12-5 victory.
Winslow stands at 11-1 in Class B North while Gardiner remains in the tournament hunt at 7-6.
The Black Raiders committed three errors in Gardiner’s four-run third inning and trailed 5-1 after a two-run double from Julia Nadeau.
“After a while we needed to get it in gear.” Winslow senior shortstop Liz Pullen said. “I came in the dugout and I was like ‘come on guys they think they won states because they’re beating us (5-1).’ We’re a great team and we can hit the ball. We’re both good in the infield and up to bat.”
Gardiner freshman pitcher Jillian Bisson deserved better than she got in the top of the fifth as the Tigers opened the inning with three straight infield errors. Libby followed with a high fly to right that was misjudged, allowing two runs to score.
“We’re young and we’re going to make young mistakes,” said Gardiner coach Don Brochu, who started five freshmen. “We came to play for four (innings).”
Natalie Greene drew a walk and Pullen, batting eighth, stroked the second of her three singles to score a run. Cassie Demers followed with a two-run double and leadoff hitter Jenna Petrovic cleared the bases with a triple to center field to make it 9-5.
“The concern was we weren’t disciplined at the plate,” Winslow coach Steve Bodge said. “We were swinging at everything that was letter high and higher. That inning that we scored a bunch of runs we adjusted. We had to get the ball down and that was the difference in our approach.”
Bri Brochu, Gardiner’s lone senior, had three of her team’s five hits and scored a pair of runs. Nadeau drove in three runs with a double and a groundout, but the rest of the lineup had a hard time catching up to Libby, who finished with eight strikeouts.
“I was thinking I really need to adjust to this game,” Libby said after trailing 5-1. “I think our team overall is really good. I feel confident in my team.”
Libby got 12 of the final 13 batters she faced out, allowing just a single to Brochu in the seventh. Winslow collected 13 hits in all, six of those in the fifth inning. Libby added three singles while Kiana Richards singled twice. Freshman Kylie Sirois added an RBI single for the Tigers.
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