STANDISH – The third-ranked Spartans maintained a 2-0 lead for most of their Wednesday evening battle with the top-ranked Scarborough Red Storm. But in the bottom of the fifth, Marisa O’Toole exploded a two-run homer to tie the score and set the stage for Alyssa Williamson to knock an outfield shot of her own and seize the lead, 3-2.
Scarborough would hold on to win, 5-2, and capture the Class A West crown.
The Red Storm improve to 18-1 on the season, and advance to Saturday’s state finals against Skowhegan (14-5) at noon on Saturday in Augusta. Sanford finishes its 2013 13-6.
“[Scarborough] is potent 1-9,” Sanford head coach Kristi Cochin said of the Red Storm lineup. “We knew that they would have to execute to beat us, and that we would have to execute to beat them. It’s just two tough teams battling it out.”
“We thought we had a really good game plan at the plate,” Scarborough coach Tom Griffin said. “We were really confident…We’ve seen [Sanford starting pitcher Sam Adams] three times, so we had a good understanding of what she’s trying to do.”
Sanford is the only team to beat Scarborough this season, a 3-2 victory back on May 6. Could they repeat that feat?
They seemed poised to, striking hard and fast, in the top of the first. Sam Fecteau walked to open the proceedings, then Morgan Fogg sac bunted her to second. Sam Adams followed with a mortar to center, scoring Fecteau, and Kellie Tovey repeated the hit, give or take a few yards, to bring Adams home. The Spartans had captured the early lead, 2-0, and the momentum.
“I give Sanford a lot of credit,” Griffin said. “They’ve come a long ways. Granted, they beat us the first game, but they look even so much better now. They really play really well.”
Defense became the name of this game, until, that is, the fateful fifth, when the Red Storm woke up hungry. Chloe Gorey bunted to start the inning, landing safely on first, and two batters later, O’Toole took her big swing, sending the ball arcing, hanging, dropping beyond the centerfield wall and igniting an uproar among her teammates. She had cleared Gorey off the bases, jogged them herself, and tied the score at 2-2.
Inspired, Grace Farnkoff launched a base-hit into left. Mary Redmond stepped in to pinch run for her, before Alyssa Williamson blasted a deep shot, nearly another home-run, to centerfield, scoring Redmond and setting the tally at 3-2.
Erin Giles then flew out to right, though the contact allowed Williamson time enough to tag up and get home for a 4-2 lead.
“We just started to get more aggressive at the plate,” Griffin said. “We were letting some good pitches go by, and we decided, yeah, it’s time to start swinging the bat, and go after the first good pitch that we can get.”
“When Sam gets hit,” Cochin said, “it catches everyone by surprise, because she’s such a consistently dominant pitcher…But I don’t know that it’s anything we did wrong; they adjusted to Sam. Her pitches were working, and then…they moved up in the box, got their hands a little bit higher, and then they started getting all of the ball, not just a little bit of it.”
Scarborough would add one more run, Sophia Burnham reaching home on a Gorey double, but they wouldn’t need it, as Sanford couldn’t recover. Though the Spartans looked to perhaps start a rally of their own in the top of the seventh, when Jen Jones reached second on an overthrow at first and Jordan Wilson then walked, Nicole Main struck out looking for out No. 1 and Fecteau grounded into a double play that nixed Wilson as she dashed for second and Jones as she drove, determined, for home.
“Jen’s young, Jen’s a very intense player…she did almost have it,” Cochin said of Jones’ rush to score. “She’s taken chances before, and they’ve worked out. It’s a tough time to take a chance, but you can’t be mad at a kid like that for wanting it so badly.”
“I have no complaints about how we played today,” Cochin said. “[Scarborough is] a real scary team with their bats, and we knew that coming in. We knew we’d have to make a lot of tough defensive plays, because they’ve seen [staring pitcher] Sam [Adams]; that’s the third time they’ve faced her this year. Had a feeling they’d probably put the ball in play a lot more, just hoping that the defense would come through. You know, I think they did – Scarborough won that game.”
The admiration Cochin expressed is mutual. “[Sanford] deserved to be here,” Griffin said simply.
The Red Storm celebrate their Class A West regional finals victory by mobbing one another.
Scarborough players receive their individual awards after their comeback triumph over Sanford, 5-2, in the Class A West regional finals Wednesday night.
Scarborough catcher Megan Murrell awaits the throw.
Sanford’s Sam Fecteau takes a few warm-up swings before stepping into the batter’s box against Scarborough Wednesday evening. Sanford fell to Scarborough, 5-2.
Spartans pitcher Sam Adams lets fly the ball against Scarborough.
Megan Murrell takes a turn at the plate for the Red Storm.
Red Storm third baseman Erin Giles readies herself for the play.
Sanford third baseman Sam Fecteau waits for action.
Scarborough’s Chloe Gorey beats the throw to first.
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