BREWER, Maine — The turnout at Coffin Field was treated to a thriller on Thursday night when the third-seeded Brewer High School Witches rallied for two runs in the seventh to edge sixth seed Hampden Academy, 6-5, in a Class A North softball quarterfinal.
They also witnessed a memorable duel between Brewer junior pitcher Sara Young and Hampden Academy sophomore third baseman Piper Parker.
In her first at-bat in the second inning, Parker forced Young to throw 11 pitches before taking a called third strike on the 12th pitch.
Parker fouled off four pitches in an 0-2 count and four 1-2 pitches.
But she exceeded that during a 15-pitch at-bat in the fourth inning which ended in a line drive to left fielder Olivia Gilmore.
Parker fouled off seven 1-2 pitches and one 2-2 pitch.
“I don’t think that has ever happened to me until tonight,” said Young. “It was a battle.”
The 27 pitches in the two at-bats represented 45 percent of the pitches Young tossed through the first 3 ⅔ innings.
“She fought every single one of them off until one of us won or a ball stayed in play. She was very, very impressive,” Young added.
Young recalled thinking to herself ‘Wow, this is a battle right here.”
“They were real long at-bats. I wanted to battle the best I could,” said Parker. “I don’t try to think too much. If it gets into my head, it’s not going to go well. I just try to brush it off and keep battling in that situation.”
Parker said she never wants to go down easy in an at-bat.
“It was very frustrating because there were some that were inches from being fair. Others went into the woods,” said Parker.
“She is a very hard out,” said Brewer coach Skip Estes.
Hampden Academy coach Jarrod Williams said Parker has done that two or three times this season. Williams had several of her foul balls fly by him in the third base coach’s box.
“That’s why when the ball comes at me, I barely move. I know it’s coming at me,” quipped Williams.
In her final at-bat, Young struck out her on three pitches.
Appropriately, Parker fouled the first pitch off.
