BANGOR, Maine — Transfers Sophie Lynch and Emma Tripp made impressive Class A playoff debuts for Bangor High School on Wednesday night.
Ellsworth transfer Lynch went three-for-four including a three-run, inside-the-park homer and former Belfast High pitcher Tripp tossed six shutout innings as the top-seeded Rams beat No. 8 Lewiston 10-0 in their A North softball quarterfinal at the Bangor High School field.
Ellsworth and Belfast are Class B schools.
The game ended in the bottom of the sixth due to the 10-run rule.
The 13-4 Rams, winners of six of their last seven, will host the winner of the Camden Hills-Skowhegan game in Saturday’s semifinal.
Lewiston wound up 8-9.
“It feels great. It’s my first Class A playoff game win and my first playoff win,” said Tripp, whose Belfast team lost to Hermon 4-0 in the B North quarterfinals last year. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without this team picking it up hitting.”
Tripp said she was grateful for her teammates.
The righthander allowed three singles while striking out nine and walking three. She threw 101 pitches, 59 for strikes.
Husson University-bound Lynch, the Penobscot Valley Conference Class B Player of the Year a year ago, called it a “phenomenal” win.
“The energy was amazing. The team did a great job staying hyped throughout the game which fueled us offensively and defensively,” said Lynch.
The Rams broke the game open with a seven-run rally in the second inning and six of the runs scored after two were out.
Gabby Raymond led off the inning by blooping a single to right and Victoria Jarnich ripped a double off the fence in center field.
Tripp followed with an infield single to deliver Raymond.
Lewiston pitcher Ava Dionne struck out the next two hitters but Gabby Goding belted a two-run double to left center.
Abby Folsom was hit by a pitch before Lynch launched a long fly ball to deep center field that hit the top of the fence and bounced back into play. Lynch never stopped running and beat the throw to the plate for her inside-the-park homer.
“It felt pretty solid off the bat,” said Lynch,who credited her teammates with supporting her and “getting on base and getting in position where I can hit them in.”
An Eva Coombs single and Raymond triple delivered the final run of the frame.
“We can string hits together really well. It just meshes really well this year,” said Goding.
“You’ve got to give Bangor credit. They put their bats on the ball,” said Lewiston coach Ryan Cormier.
Freshman Harlee Gasser came on to pitch in the third inning for Lewiston and did an impressive job quieting the Bangor bats — until the Rams scored three more two-out runs in the sixth on Goding’s double, singles by Lynch (RBI), Coombs and Raymond (RBI) and a game-ending wild pitch.
Raymond joined Lynch with three hits as she had a triple and two singles. Goding had a pair of doubles and Coombs had two singles.
Dionne, Aubrey Wood and Irelyn Ackley had singles for Lewiston, which had just two seniors on the roster.
Gasser struck out five in her 3 ⅔ innings of work.
“It was a good team win,” said Bangor coach Sophia Sciarappa.
The Rams won only two games a year ago and Cormier credited Sciarappa with doing an “incredible job” guiding the Rams to the dramatic turnaround.
Senior Goding called the season a “completely different turnaround.” She said that having a transfer pitcher and catcher have picked the Rams up in areas where they struggled a season ago.
“It’s a totally different feel this year,” Goding said.
