HAMPDEN, Maine — After striking out twice earlier in Wednesday’s Class A North softball game at Hampden Academy, Bangor High School senior third baseman Gabby Raymond changed her approach at the plate in the later innings.
“I just needed to make contact so I shortened up my swing,” explained Raymond, who drove in the tying run in the seventh inning with a fielder’s choice and the winning run in the ninth inning with a two-out single as Bangor rallied for a 5-4 victory in a thriller on a blustery afternoon.
“We needed those runs,” added Raymond.
Undefeated Bangor, which went 2-14 a year ago, has already exceeded last year’s win total by picking up its third of the season.
Hampden Academy fell to 3-1 despite a terrific complete-game 20-strikeout outing from junior righthander Cat Facchini, who threw 187 pitches including 114 strikes and allowed 10 hits, five runs and five walks.
Bangor scored three runs in the sixth to tie it 3-3 before erasing a 4-3 lead in the seventh and taking its first lead of the game in the ninth.
Facchini got the first two outs in the ninth before Abby Folsom drew a two-out walk. Ellsworth High transfer Sophie Lynch followed with a ground ball single up the middle for her third hit of the game and Raymond followed by grounding a single to left to drive in Folsom.
Raymond said Facchini threw hard so the whole team tried to just make contact instead of taking big swings to try to hit for power.
“That’s what it came down to,” said Raymond.
Lynch and Raymond had come through in the seventh to tie it after Victoria Jarnich opened the seventh by grounding a single to center.
One out later, Lynch drove an opposite-field double to right to send Jarnich to third and Raymond followed with a grounder to shortstop to deliver Jarnich.
Lynch had doubled to right to lead off the sixth and trigger the game-tying three-run rally. Gabby Goding doubled her home and, following a walk to Kaylee Foisom, Eva Coombs tied the game with a two-run ground-rule double to right.
“I’m definitely starting to get better contact,” said Lynch. “My goal today was just to get some solid contact and it definitely felt great with some of those hits.”
Belfast High School transfer Emma Tripp pitched eight innings to earn her third win. The sophomore righty allowed eight hits and three runs, two earned, with seven strikeouts and one walk. She threw 120 pitches of which 77 were strikes.
Annabelle Pierce came on to pitch the fifth inning and gave up an unearned run before Tripp returned in the sixth after Bangor had tied it.
“I knew we put (Pierce) out there to throw off-speed and give them a new look and I was confident coming back in that my girls had my back and we could fight back from where we were at,” said Tripp.
Hampden Academy reached Tripp for a go-ahead run in the sixth on singles by Khole Hellum and Charlotte Tardif and a two-out run-scoring single by Mariah Coon, who ripped a liner off the glove of Bangor first baseman Kaylee Folsom.
Hampden had taken a 3-0 lead with single runs in the first, fourth and fifth innings.
In the first, Kiera Gabric reached on an infield error and eventually scored on Aubrey Shaw’s sacrifice fly.
Lolah Cowing’s triple and Addie Worster’s sacrifice fly made it 2-0 in the fourth and two walks and a throwing error accounted for the Broncos’ fifth-inning run off Pierce.
“We knew we were going to have to battle if we wanted to win,” said Bangor coach Sophia Sciarappa. “Hampden has a great team. This was a game you wanted to be a part of no matter the outcome.”
“It felt like a playoff game in June, a (regional) semifinal,” said Lynch.
“Our girls played really well,” said first-year Hampden Academy coach Jarrod Williams. “The thing that was tough is we had a huge win against Oxford Hills on Monday and after a big win like that there can be a letdown.
“I’m not saying there was a letdown today because Bangor played lights out. They are so improved from last year it’s not even funny. Sophia does an amazing job,” Williams added.
Facchini said she didn’t know she had 20 strikeouts.
“It’s been a great year. We had a great last game and, honestly, I wanted this more than anything,” said Facchini. “So from the minute I stepped on the field to the minute I walked off, I wanted to put my all into it.”
She said despite the pitch count, she wasn’t tired at all.
“I was kind of running off adrenaline at the end there, trying to push myself because in games like this, you have to do that,” said Facchini.
“She is an amazing pitcher,” said Tripp, who is on a summer travel softball team with Facchini and Lynch.
Coombs and Goding each had a double and a single and Raymond had two singles to complement Lynch.
Facchini and Worster each had a double and a single for Hampden Academy and Tardif had a pair of base hits.
Hampden Academy travels to Old Town for a 4:30 game on Thursday while Bangor next plays on Monday at Brewer with a 4:30 first pitch.
