When the throw came to Catie Funk, the Scarborough third baseman had just one thought: “Don’t drop the ball.”
She didn’t.
In fact, Funk chased Biddeford’s Nikki Kimborowicz back toward second base and slapped on the tag, giving Scarborough a 10-9 win Tuesday and the state title in Junior League softball.
Before Kimborowicz tried for third and got stuck in a rundown, she hit a shot over left fielder Alexis Garrison’s head and it looked like pesky Biddeford was about to stage another comeback.
All day, in a doubleheader played just outside of Bangor in Glenburn, Scarborough watched as their early leads melted in the hot sun.
But late in the second game, a five-run rally put the girls back in front and in position to represent Maine in the regional tournament, which begins Aug. 6 in Syracuse, NY.
“These girls have been there,” said manager Perry Pelletier. “For some of them it’s their fourth consecutive state championship, so they’ve been playing these big games, and we rely on that experience and talent to get us through.”
The two squads that reached the finals met earlier in the tournament, with Scarborough’s Abbey Pelletier stroking a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the seventh to secure a 5-4 win for her team. Biddeford emerged out of the losers’ bracket with the unenviable task of sweeping their opponents in order for their state title dreams to come true.
Funk came up big all day. In the first game she staked Scarborough to a 4-0 lead with a pair of two-run doubles in the first two innings. In the second game, her bases-loaded triple was the key hit in a four-run third inning, extending the margin for the girls in red to 5-0.
Each time, the Biddeford bats awakened, eventually taking leads of two runs. They managed to hold on to that lead in the afternoon game, winning 6-4.
“We had the lead until the fourth inning,” Garrison said, “and then we let it go because we were too confident.”
With the sun beating down and their chance of wrapping up the state crown in one game squandered, Scarborough wandered off to regroup before the start of the evening contest.
“We went for a long walk and sat in the car,” said Funk. “We got pumped up.”
After their second comeback of the day, Biddeford was ahead 7-5 in game two when Scarborough’s Shannon Stone and Jennifer Colpitts led off the top of the sixth with walks. Pitcher Ashley Lemelin was replaced by Lauren Rousseau, but the runners advanced on a wild pitch and Stone scored on Reegan Brackett’s groundout.
Heather Carrier then walked and Colpitts scored on a wild pitch. Funk reached base on a hard grounder through the infield, and Garrison smacked a high pitch to the opposite field, bringing in Carrier.
After Funk scored on a wild pitch, Emily Norton singled to knock in Garrison with the eventual winning run. Up 10-7, Scarborough knew they couldn’t relax with two innings to go.
A pair of big defensive plays in the bottom of the sixth may have saved the game. First, when Stone struck out Kimborowicz to start the inning, the pitch got past Carrier, the Scarborough catcher. Reacting quickly, Carrier tracked the ball down and fired to Pelletier at first, just in time to get the runner.
A short while later, with Biddeford runners on first and second, Funk fielded a grounder to her left and well in from third base. She turned, sprinted and dove, tagging the bag just before the lead runner slid in.
Biddeford did score a pair of runs in the frame and then held Scarborough scoreless in the top of the seventh to set up the dramatic finish.
Stone, who pitched in the first game, had taken over from Brackett back in the fifth and took the mound again, hoping to close out the contest for her team.
“I was very tired,” she said, “but more nervous.”
The right-handed hurler induced grounders to second and short to pull Scarborough within one out of victory, when Kimborowicz stepped up. Garrison, in left field, was backed up by her coaches, as the strategy becomes to keep the ball in front of fielders, rather than risk a shot over their heads that could tie the game.
Kimborowicz did exactly that, slamming the ball beyond Garrison’s outstretched glove. The Biddeford third baseman made a fatal mistake, however, rounding second despite the ball being retrieved and thrown in quickly from left. Funk applied the tag and Scarborough celebrated.
“Biddeford is an awesome team. We’re just one run better than they are,” said manager Pelletier. “Just one run.”
Pelletier gathered his players after the game and told them that they could now say “the S word.” Then the Scarborough girls put their hands together and, on the count of three, shouted, “Syracuse!”
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