South Portland 9
Windham 1
The South Portland softball team is rolling to a spot in the Class A playoffs.
The Riots upped their record to 9-1 on the season with dominating wins over Windham on Friday and Noble on Monday.
Strong pitching led the way for the Riots in both games, as Julie DiMatteo earned her sixth win of the season and freshman sensation Alexis Bogdanovich upped her record to 3-0 while pitching a no-hitter in a 14-0 win over Noble on May 19.
The Red Riots sent 10 batters to the plate and scored seven runs in the sixth inning Friday to cruise to a 9-1 win over Windham. DiMatteo struck out 11 batters in the win.
The Riots were aggressive on the bases and that led to some Windham mistakes in the seven-run sixth. Beth Harmon led off the sixth with an infield single. Stephanie Thibeault followed that with a single of her own. A pair of wild pitches led to Harmon scoring. Amanda Linscott then walked. Melissa Thomes singled to drive in Thibeault and the Riots lead was 4-1.
Katlin Norton flied to left for a sacrifice fly that scored Linscott. Kelsey Flaherty then walked. At that point, Windham head coach Bob Blanchard brought Liz Silvius in to pitch. But the results weren’t much better. The Riots scored two more runs in the inning after the pitching change to take a 9-1 lead.
“(Aggressive base running) was the difference in the game,” said South Portland head coach Jim Hartman. “Really you have to be (aggressive) when you are struggling at the plate. You have to get it somewhere.”
Early on, it was a much closer game.
The Riots opened up with a pair of runs in the first. Flaherty led off the game with an infield single. She came around to score on a wild pitch and South Portland led 1-0. Alexis Bogdanovich walked and also scored on a wild pitch. After half an inning, the Riots had a 1-0 edge.
Taylor York led off the Windham half of the first with a bunt single. She finished with three hits. Two batters later, Riley Graves singled and York scored to cut South Portland’s lead to 2-1. DiMatteo got out of the inning with a ground ball.
Windham pitcher Robin Bott settled down and pitched her way out of trouble a couple of times. In the third, the Riots had a good chance to blow the game open. Bogdanovich, Kayla Ferrara and DiMatteo all drew one-out walks to load the bases. Bott struck out Harmon and got a ground ball to close out the inning and the threat. Bott also got out of runners in scoring position situations in the second and fifth also.
“She was a tough pitcher,” Hartman said of Bott. “That’s what is tough about softball. You’ll see Julie in one game and it’s a 30 mph difference. We didn’t adjust real well. We swung at bad pitches and we were drooling at the slow stuff. We just kept popping up.”
DiMatteo pitched her way out of trouble in the sixth. Katie Cook walked to lead off the inning for the Eagles. Deanna Jones and Graves then singled back to back. With the bases loaded and nobody out, DiMatteo got a ground ball to first to get the first out at home. She struck out Silvius for the second out and Thomes made a catch on a liner to end the inning.
“(DiMatteo) pitched well,” Hartman said. “We made some good plays in the field. That catch by Thomes at second with the bases loaded was a big help. Kelsey (Flaherty) was solid today. Everybody pitched in on the defense.”
The Eagles fell to 2-7 with the loss.
On Monday, the Riots got a lights-out performance from Bogdanovich, who is continuing to have a breakout rookie season.
Bogdanovich had seven strikeouts and allowed only two walks as she no-hit Noble at home in a game that was shortened by the 12-run rule. Including the no-hitter, Bogdanovich has allowed only two hits in her three starts this season.
But it wasn’t only her performance on the mound that led to the win, Bogdanovich also helped her cause with a pair of hits.
The South Portland offense was paced by Harmon, who had two hits and three RBIs against the Knights, DiMatteo and Norton also chipped in with two hits and two RBIs each.
The Riots’ were scheduled to play Marshwood on May 21 (a game played after the Current’s deadline) and then they return home to take on Gorham on May 23.
Additional material by Sports Editor Mike Higgins
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