BREWER- The Brewer Witches softball team capped off a great day for the school with a 1-0 victory over Greely in the Maine Principals’ Association Class B state championship game at Coffin Field on Saturday afternoon. Earlier in the day, the Witches baseball team won on a walk off hit from Josiah Cyr.
The Witches and Rangers battled through three scoreless innings. MJ Sellers started the bottom of the fourth inning with a triple. Sellers scored when Becca Gideon hit a grounder to second.
That run was enough for the Witches pitcher Libby Hewes. She went through the first five innings without allowing a hit. Brewer needed a big defensive play in the sixth inning. They got just that. Delia Knox led off with a single and stole second base. Sawyer Dusch followed with a single and it looked the Rangers were going to even the score. Brewer left fielder Olivia Cattan fired a perfect relay to Hewes in the middle of the diamond. Hewes fired it to the catcher Goodrich who tagged out the runner.
“That was a huge play. Olivia got it to me and I got to the plate. We work on that at practice all the time,”Hewes said. “When you practice like you play, you deliver.”
Goodrich added, “we practice that every single day. We haven’t had a chance to use that all year, we finally got to use it today.”
Greely had another threat in the top of the seventh inning. Mollie Ober smacked a one out single. With two outs, Madison Rawnsley hit one deep to left center. Brewer again had a perfect relay. This time it was center fielder Emily Lord who threw it to the cutoff. Runners held at second and third. Hewes got the final out on a grounder to third baseman Sellers.
While Hewes had everything going, she also had plenty of help from her teammates. Sellers had six assists from third base. In the third inning, Hewes needed only five pitches (all strikes) to get three ground-balls to Sellers.
“It was a team effort. It was no single pitch, no single hit, no single play that got us to the state championship,”Hewes said. “It was everything all together.”
Hewes allowed only four hits in her complete game shutout. She walked one and struck out six.
“When she (Hewes) warmed up everything was working well,”Goodrich said. “When she needed it everything was working.”
Brewer coach Skip Estes added, “she (Hewes) pitched a great game.”
Lord reached base three times with two hits, including a double and a walk. Gideon singled and walked. Brewer finished the season with a 20-0 record. It is the first state championship for Brewer softball since 2008 when they won the class A title.
“Honestly this is the best thing we could have asked for. We have been playing together since we were 10 years old,”Goodrich said. “This is what we have been working up to. It feels great.”
Hewes added, “no words can explain how this feels. As a community to have the boys win a state championship too, it is unbelievable.”
Kelsey Currier allowed one run on seven hits for the Rangers. She walked two and struck out three. Greely finishes the season with a 12-8 record.
