HAMPDEN, Maine — Hampden Academy senior pitcher Charlee Chute’s afternoon didn’t get off to a good start on Friday.
Three hitters into the game she was behind 2-0 as the result of Brewer High sophomore first baseman Jillian Ford’s first career homer, a long two-run shot to center field, and Chute then walked the next hitter, Emma Jameson, and gave up a bunt single to Paige Oakes.
But she worked her way out of the jam and pitched one-hit, shutout ball the rest of the way as Hampden Academy rallied for a 5-2 Class A North win.
The Broncos snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 5-2 while the Witches fell to 4-4.
Chute, aided by some exceptional defensive plays, was able to make clutch pitches when she needed to in order to work her way out of jams caused primarily by the seven walks she issued.
She walked the bases loaded with one out in the third but got two strikeouts to end the threat.
She walked Oakes and gave up a soft single to center by Olivia Bragdon with two outs in the fifth but induced a ground ball to third to get out of that inning unscathed.
She allowed a one-out walk in the sixth but struck the next two hitters out and she retired the side in order in the seventh to earn the win.
Chute wound up throwing 128 pitches, 73 for strikes, and struck out 10 to go with her seven walks and hit batter. She gave up just three hits and stranded nine Brewer baserunners as the Witches went just one-for-11 with runners on base after Oakes’ bunt single in the first.
“I had to give myself some confidence. Sometimes you have to tell yourself it’s okay to not always be on top of your game. You just have to push through it,” said Chute.
“She’s a fighter. She’s not one to give up,” said Hampden Academy coach Deb Colpitts about Chute. “Mentally, when she can get on her game and get going, she’s strong.
“She’s a good one for us to have in the circle. She is a good team leader and has a lot of confidence in her defense,” Colpitts added.
“She always pitches a real good game against us,” said Brewer coach Skip Estes. “We had a lot of opportunities. We just couldn’t deliver.”
It didn’t take the Broncos long to get right back into the game as they answered Brewer’s two-run first inning rally with three in the bottom of the frame to take a lead they would never relinquish.
Chute led off the inning with a double over the left fielder’s head off Sara Young and she scored when Laurali Parker ripped a double to left center.
Kiera Gabric reached on an infield single.
The runners moved up on a passed ball and Cat Facchini blooped a run-scoring single into right that wound up scoring both runners when the right fielder misplayed it.
“We wanted to jump on their pitcher early and that’s exactly what we did,” said senior right fielder Parker. “It was definitely a great way to start the game. It gave us a lot of energy and confidence. We had a great hitting day. We worked on taking level swings.”
The Broncos added unearned runs in the second and sixth innings.
In the second, a shortstop error was followed by a walk, an infield hit by Parker and a run-producing fielder’s choice by Gabric.
In the sixth, a shortstop error, a wild pitch and Chute’s crisp RBI single to right center gave the Broncos an important insurance run.
“We had some miscues or it would have been a closer game. We’ll clean those up,” said Estes.
The Broncos had a stellar defensive game with just one error.
Center fielder Gabric made a nice running catch on Madison Shaw’s shallow fly ball in the second; catcher Aubrey Shaw sprinted out of her crouch to snare a little foul pop-up by Shaw in the fourth, and left fielder Mariah Coon made a nice running catch near the left field foul line off Emma Jameson in the fifth.
“We’ve made some errors the last few games and that has thrown us off our game,” said Coipitts. “So we’ve really worked on fielding the ball cleanly and we did real well in this game.”
Chute, Parker and Gabric, the top three hitters in the HA lineup, each had two singles.
Young settled down nice after the first inning and only two of the five runs off her were earned.
She allowed eight hits and struck out six while walking just one.
Brewer will return to action on Saturday when it travels to Farmington to take on Mt. Blue High School at 1.
Hampden Academy will play again on Monday when it entertains Camden Hills of Rockport at 4:15.
