ASHLAND, Maine — Scoring runs hasn’t been an issue this season for the Ashland softball team.
The Hornets reached double figures in 10 of their 14 regular-season games. That type of offense also showed up in their first playoff game of the spring as Ashland matched its second highest output of the season with a 24-3 victory over Schenck of East Millinocket on Wednesday.
Ashland (10-5), the No. 4 team in Class D North, hosts No. 5 Woodland at at 3 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals. The Wolverines, seeded 13th, finished with a 3-14 record.
Ashland scored three times in the first inning without the benefit of a hit, taking advantage of a walk, a hit batsman and two infield errors. The hosts got their bats going in the second by lashing five hits in a seven-run uprising. The key blow was a two-run inside-the-park homer to deep center field by freshman third baseman Jamie Poulin, which helped stake Ashland to a 10-0 advantage.
The Hornets tacked on three more runs in the third and 11 in the fourth. In the four innings at the plate, Ashland recorded 31 baserunners. Fourteen were by way of hits, 12 were on either walks or hit batsmen and the other five reached on errors. Schenck committed nine errors in the contest, while Ashland was error-free in the field.
“We have good hitting and fielding and we took advantage of our speed and our baserunning and we took advantage of their miscues,” said Ashland coach Terry Hunter. “We waited out their pitchers, hustled and made them try to make the plays.”
Ashland second baseman Hailee Cunningham catches a popup as shortstop Shelby Stolze backs up the play during Wednesday’s prelim game against Schenck. (Kevin Sjoberg)
Cami Deabay, a junior left-hander, got the job done in the circle for Ashland. Battling a knee injury which has sidelined her for well over half of the regular season, Deabay was effective by allowing just the three runs, all earned, on four hits. She struck out five, hit two and walked two in the 1-hour, 25-minute game that was halted after 4 1/2 innings due to the 12-run rule.
“That’s the first time she’s gone five innings since the beginning of the season, so I was happy with that,” Hunter said. “She has an issue with her knee popping out from time to time, so we just go with it and see what happens. We’ve been slowly working her back, one or two innings at a time. I just need her out there throwing strikes and she was good today.”
Morgan Doughty led Ashland’s offense with four hits. She scored four times and drove in two. Micayla Driscoll contributed three hits.
Losing pitcher Allison Noddin had an RBI double and Mercedes Castillo drove in the other two runs with a fourth-inning single for the Wolverines.
-
- Ashland catcher Olivia Tardie (left) was in the middle of a nifty 6-2-3 double play during the third inning of Wednesday’s Class D North prelim softball game at Ashland. Allison Noddin is the Schenck baserunner thrown out on the play and umpire Bob Thibodeau makes the call. (Kevin Sjoberg)
