The Bangor Rams only scored one run in Saturday’s Class A North regional semifinal. And that’s all they needed with Emma Tripp on the mound.
Tripp threw seven shutout innings to lead Bangor to a 1-0 win over Camden Hills and send the Rams to the regional championship on Tuesday.
The transfer pitcher, who joined Bangor from Belfast this season, was particularly dominant down the stretch and earned five of the last six outs by strikeout.
“She’s a competitor through and through,” Bangor coach Sophia Sciarappa said after the game. “And to pitch a whole game is tough, and she did a really good job.”
Sciarappa said Tripp is typically able pitch deep into games without tapering off on the mound.
“She pitches close to a 100 pitches every game, and the whole time she throws gas,” the Bangor coach said.
Tripp had a stoic response when asked what was going through her head toward the end of the close game.
“Not much. I try to think nothing, do something,” Tripp said. “So I just try to clear my head, focus on what I know how to do.”
Tripp wasn’t the only impressive pitcher in Saturday’s playoff matchup. Camden Hill’s Maya Stone was similarly locked in on the mound.
Stone fanned nine Bangor batters and gave up just the one run in six innings.
That run came in the bottom of the fourth after a string of good at-bats from the Rams.
Sophie Lynch had a lead-off single to start the inning. Then Eva Coombs drew a walk. A well-executed sacrifice bunt by Gabby Raymond advanced the two runners to second and third, and may have been the play of the game.
“She did her job,” Sciarappa said of Raymond, calling that a quality at-bat worth celebrating.
Raymond said the team practices getting bunts down a lot.
“I’m not typically a bunter. I usually am a power hitter,” Raymond said. “So when I get asked to bunt, it’s usually a pretty high-intensity situation because it doesn’t happen very often.”
Victoria Jarnich followed the well-placed bunt up with an RBI groundout to knock in the only run of the game.
Winning pitcher Tripp said the win “feels amazing” but emphasized that she wasn’t the only factor in the win.
“Every girl hit, everyone brought us to this position. I’m just grateful,” Tripp said. I wouldn’t want to do it with any other team.”
Bangor will play Edward Little on Tuesday after the No. 7 Red Eddies upset No. 3 Brewer 7-4 in extra innings on Saturday afternoon. Bangor entered the playoffs as the top seed as part of a dramatic turnaround from last season, when the Rams only won two games.
“We have worked really hard the past two years to get to this position, and I’m really, really proud of them,” Sciarappa said.
