WINSLOW — On Wednesday at least, the hare was faster than the tortoise.
The Winslow softball team got off to a slow start and never caught up to Oceanside hurler Chloe Jones, and Jones made the Black Raiders pay by pitching the Mariners to a 4-1 win in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B game at Laverdiere Field. Jones, a sophomore, took a two-hit shutout into the final inning, issuing three walks while striking out 11, after having been handed a four-run lead through just two and a half innings.
Oceanside wrapped up its regular season at 14-2.
“She’s been very dominant all season,” Oceanside coach Russ Worcester said of Jones. “She’s really been able to locate her fastball. Velocity-wise, she throws hard but when she’s able to spot her off-speed pitches it makes her even more difficult to hit.”
Jones didn’t need much support from her offense, which scratched out single runs in the first and second innings before adding a pair in the third.
She retired 10 of the first 11 Black Raiders she faced, working around a two-out walk in the second inning and not allowing another baserunner until Bailey Robbins (2 for 3) reached on an infield single in the fourth.
Winslow (11-4) threatened to fight back into the game in the sixth, getting the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters in the lineup on base to start the would-be rally via a walk and a single up the middle, but Jones got leadoff hitter Cassie Demers looking at a called third strike. That was followed by a promising six-pitch at-bat from Sarah Guimond that ended when she lined out to first and Alexa Petrovic was doubled off at second after having been set in motion on the play.
“I try to keep an open mind and block everything out,” Jones said. “I try not to let the runners bother me. It’s just the batter and me at that point.”
Winslow coach Steve Bodge looked at the double play as a dose of bad luck that comes from trying to be aggressive when chasing a four-run deficit in the late innings.
“I chose to run on 3-2, absolutely, we love to run,” Bodge said. “We had three infielders moving on their team, and the one that didn’t have to move was the one that the ball was hit to. That’s hit and run. Don’t get down 4-0, I guess, and force yourself to have to do something.”
The double play was especially painful in hindsight, as it left the power-hitting designated player Robbins stranded in the on-deck circle. Robbins would lead off the seventh by drilling a double down the right-field line and scoring on a wild pitch with two outs to break up Jones’ shutout.
Jones sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around Paige Trask’s single in the seventh to finish off the game. Five of her 11 strikeouts came via called third strikes, testament to an excellent changeup and curveball that complemented the zip on her fastball nicely.
“My changeup wasn’t working too well, but it was getting in there sometimes,” Jones said. “My fastball outside, (the umpire) liked the outside corner so I just tried to throw it there. I like to mix it up.”
Alexis Mazurek’s sacrifice fly scored Abby Veilleux (2 for 3 with a double) for a 1-0 Oceanside lead in the first, and No. 9 hitter Kalli Grover’s RBI single in the second scored Lauren Hatch to make it 2-0.
A delayed throw from center fielder Haley Ward gave Veilleux the time she needed to score in the opening inning, while Grover’s hit came just two pitches after an error at shortstop would have otherwise ended the second frame.
“I wasn’t really excited about how they scored their four runs,” Bodge said. “We kind of helped them a little bit. They did a good job, but we were part of that, as well… As the game went along, we stopped playing safe and stopped playing scared, and we put them under pressure.”
Mazurek doubled to start off the third, and Casey Pine followed with a single to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Hannah Moholland and Jones (2 for 4 with two doubles) drove in runs as the lead grew to 4-0.
“We’ve got some big hitters,” Jones said. “It’s a team effort right there.”
“They’re obviously good, let’s be honest,” Bodge said of Oceanside. “I knew going into the season that that’s the best team in the league. I don’t care if they lost two times or 12 times — that’s the best team in the league.”
Travis Barrett — 621-5621
tbarrett@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @TBarrettGWC
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