BREWER— The freshman did it with her arm, the senior did it with her bat. That equaled a Northern Maine championship for the Old Town Coyotes softball team.
Olivia Albert, the freshman scattered seven hits and allowed only one run. Mikayla Richards, the senior started the seventh inning with a double and scored the go ahead run to lift the Coyotes to a 2-1 victory over Winslow in the class B regional final on Wednesday afternoon at Coffin field.
The Coyotes took advantage of an error and two wild pitches to take a 1-0 lead during the top of the first inning, Albert reached on an error, after Black Raiders pitcher Hillary Libby retired the first two hitters. Caitlin King followed with a single, while Richards walked. In the middle of all that, Albert went to third a wild pitch and scored on a second wild pitch.
Winslow recorded at least one hit in six of the seven innings, Albert worked around the base runners, like she was a veteran. Coyotes catcher Natalie St. Louis threw out two attempted base stealers and the defense behind Albert was flawless. The momentum started for Old Town in their 1-0 semifinal win over Hermon. The Hawks outscored the Coyotes 18-1 in two regular season games.
“The girls came ready to play last Saturday (against Hermon) and they shocked me. That was the best I have ever seen them play and come together as a team. That showed them what they can achieve when they come together as a team. They continued that today,”Old a Town coach Jennifer Plourde said. “If this was the first time you have ever seen her (Albert) play, you would all be shocked to know she was a freshman. That is a great thing to know as a coach, I have her for another three years.”
Albert added, “it is just like any other game and I knew my team would have my back, so I had no worries.”
The Black Raiders got their lone run in the fourth inning when Paige Veilleux started things with a single, stole second, and scored on a single from Natalie Greene. Libby cruised through the middle innings,retiring 16 out of 17 hitters. The only base runner to reach between the second and sixth inning came on an error.
“They (Winslow) are a very good team. They have very good hitters and their pitcher was phenomenal,”Albert said. “We just played our game.”
Albert walked only one and struck out six on 114 pitches(68 strikes). Her numbers would be impressive on any day, but this time it came against a Winslow team that came in with a 17-1 record and was averaging 10.6 runs per game.
Things remained quiet on the scoreboard until Richards smacked a double to right center to start the seventh inning. Richards stole third base and came around to score on a wild pitch.
“I was having a hard time seeing the ball out of her (Libby) hands,”Richards said. “knew she was throwing outside strikes, I saw one that was close enough to hit and I made contact.”
Libby walked one, struck out eight, while allowing two hits, and two runs (one earned) on 104 pitches (66 strikes) in a complete game effort. Winslow finishes the season with a 17-2 record.
Albert retired the side in order in the seventh inning, including a strike out against the final batter. Old Town (16-3) will take on York in the class B state title game at Coffin Field on Saturday at 4 p.m.
