SCARBOROUGH – At this point, it is more of a story if the Scarborough Red Storm softball team is forced to play a complete game.

The top-ranked Red Storm (18-0) crushed No. 5 Kennebunk (12-6) 12-0 in six innings on Saturday to advance to the Western Maine finals.

The win sets up a duel with rival South Portland (16-2) on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at St. Joseph’s College in Standish.

Mo Hannan, who was making her first start since battling mononucleosis, watched as her teammates scored four in the first and three in the second to put the Rams away early. Hannan took care of the rest, pitching five scoreless innings and ending the game in the sixth with an RBI double to push across the 12th and final run.

Hannan, who had missed five previous games from illness, wasn’t perfect. Still, she was encouraged by her performane.

“I felt good, stronger than I had been in the past,” said Hannan.

For Hannan, her team’s offensive production allowed her to relax and concentrate on making quality pitches in her return.

“It’s so nice,” said a relieved Hannan about her team’s early seven-run lead. “Sometimes I use my nerves to get a little bit stronger, but either way it’s nice to have a bunch of runs in the first couple of innings. It’s like a weight off your shoulders.”

Offensively, the Red Storm was aided by nine Kennebunk errors that allowed them to run circles around the base paths, as well as the almost-automatic production of sophomore Alyssa Williamson.

Williamson went 3 for 4 on the day, including RBI singles in the first, second and fifth innings.

“Lately, I’ve been struggling a bit, but my coach told me just to forget about my past at-bats and focus on the next one,” said Williamson. “I really did that today. I talked to my hitting coach and he said you know how good you are, you just have to go up and do it. I mean, we had to win this game so I just relaxed and let it happen.”

What has separated the Red Storm from their competition, even more so than their devastating lineup, has been their ability to play their best in pressure situations and constantly force the opposition to make plays by putting the ball in play and taking the extra base.

“We practice it every day,” said Scarborough coach Tom Griffin. “We usually spend 10-15 minutes every practice working on those situations.”

“We try to use our offense to create situations by putting the ball in play and putting the ball on the ground,” Griffin said. “A lot of times our games ended in four or five innings because we outslugged teams, but we know come playoff time we have to use that small ball. We have to move runners, we have to do the little things. I think so many times people don’t practice it.”

While Griffin’s team has advanced to the regional finals with relative ease, Griffin is expecting a different story on Tuesday.

“I’m expecting it to be a really good game, probably 1-0 or 2-0,” the coach said. “Sometimes it just comes down to the bounce of the ball when two great teams go at it. It’s the little things that will make the difference.”

softball 007.jpgScarborough’s Mo Hannan settles into her windup before delivering a pitch in the top of the fifth inning. In her first game back from illness, Hannan pitched five scoreless innings to lead the Storm to the Western finals.
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