The Bucksport High School softball team had absorbed heart-breaking, late-inning losses to Hall-Dale of Farmingdale in the last two State Class C championship games.
But the third time was the charm for the Golden Bucks on Saturday.
Senior Natalie Simpson threw a four-hitter and fellow senior Jetta Shook drove in three runs as Bucksport ruined Hall-Dale’s bid to become the first team to win five consecutive state softball titles by virtue of its 6-2 win at St. Joseph’s College in Standish.
Simpson, a Miss Maine Softball finalist, struck out 12 and walked three.
Bucksport head coach Rich Rotella said it was a complete team win.
“Our defense was spectacular, we had clutch hitting, Natalie was great and we had the perfect opportunity to play small ball and get runners into scoring position,” said Rotella, who added that his team played errorless ball.
Bucksport concluded the season with a 19-1 record while Hall-Dale wound up 17-3.
The Bucks didn’t allow more than two runs in any of its 20 games.
It was Bucksport’s ninth state title and its first since 2017.
The Bucks now have five state crowns in Class C to go with four in B.
Sophomore Marina Keene had three singles and drove in a run while Shook and Alivia Shute each had a pair of hits.
Torie Tibbetts had two of Hall-Dale’s four hits including a solo homer.
The Bucks took a lead they would never relinquish in the third inning on Simpson’s sacrifice fly and Shook’s RBI single.
The Bulldogs loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the third but were able to push only one run across on Jade Graham’s run-scoring single.
“That was one of the keys to the game, bearing down and holding them to one run,” Rotella said.
The teams swapped fifth-inning runs as Emma Clement’s sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth was answered by Tibbetts’ solo homer in the bottom of the inning.
But the Bucks broke the open with three runs in the sixth.
“The bottom of the lineup came up huge for us,” Rotella said.
Freshman Addison Harvey drew a walk and Allison Hanscom, after failing to put down a sacrifice bunt, reached on a bloop single.
Brianna Rotella put down a sacrifice bunt before Keene singled home one run and Shook singled home the second and third runs.
Another key to the win was the Bucks’ ability to take away Hall-Dale’s bunt game from the bottom of the order by bringing third baseman Layken Farnum to within 8 feet of home plate.
“They only had one perfect bunt (for a single),” Rotella said.
Rotella shared an interesting detail in his team’s rivalry with Hall-Dale.
“They come up to our playdate every year (during the preseason),” Rotella said. “We beat them the previous two playdates but they beat us in the state championship game. They beat us in the playdate this season and that gave us extra motivation.”
Later on Saturday at St. Joe’s, Windham notched its second Class A state title in three years by shutting out Edward Little High of Auburn 7-0.
Miss Maine Softball finalist Kennedy Kimball tossed a two-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts, Addie Caiazzo tripled and singled and Yani Kostopoulos had a pair of run-scoring singles for the winners.
Windham wound up 18-2 while EL finished at 13-7.
