The Lady Eagles
softball team has waited eight years to make the playoffs and they have
succeeded in style. Tuesday afternoon, the Eagles (8th) hosted the
Gorham Rams (9th) in a Western Class A softball preliminary-round
tournament game.
Any type of
playoff game or championship game is enjoyed by the fans more when there is a
challenge, when the players are playing to their potential and the team is
working together. That is exactly what happened for both the Eagles and the
Rams during this preliminary game, unlike during the regular season when these
two teams faced off and the score ended up 14-8 with Windham winning that game.
Senior Julia
Gaudette was the starting pitcher for the Rams and she went head to head with
the Eagles Danielle Tardiff. The Rams scored first and kept the lead going into
the third inning when Windham’s Sadie Nelson and Olivia Mora each hit home
runs; Nelson’s was a bomb going far over the left-field fence and Mora’s
clearing the center-field fence. The Rams tied the game up in the top of the
fifth when courtesy runner Kathryn Bertin, running for Gaudette, scored from
second base on a sacrifice fly to deep right by Grace McGouldrick.
Julia Gaudette
for the Rams pitched a good game against the Eagles and stepped down in the
sixth as Grace McGouldrick stepped up to the mound to pitch the remainder of
the game.
The Lady Eagles
Christina Mooradian led off the sixth inning with her second single of the
game, and Katie Hunter stepped in to pinch run for her. Hunter stole second,
but was still there with two outs on the board.
“My assistants
and I had been talking and noticed that their third baseman was crashing hard,”
said Eagles Coach Demmons. “We figured we could sneak her in there and knew it
would take a perfect throw, a perfect play, to make the play.” On the second
pitch to Lauren Talbot, Katie Hunter ran for third, Hunter had stopped halfway
between the bases, but the throw went into left field and she was able to
continue. “I thought that there was no chance of me getting to third because
the catcher had already thrown it,” said Hunter. “But I watched for her to drop
it and it just passed her so I was like, ‘I’m going home.’ ”
Hunter slid home
just before the throw and the Eagles took the lead 3-2. Now it was up to
Danielle Tardiff to secure the win for the Eagles. Tardiff struck out the first
two batters and got the final out on a foul pop in which catcher Sadie Nelson
was able to make to seal the deal.
“She was superb,”
Nelson said of Tardiff. “She hit all her spots. She pitched an amazing game.”
Eagles coach
Demmons was pleased with the way his young team responded to the playoffs. The
Eagles have only two seniors on their roster. “The kids showed a lot of
character, a lot of heart,” he said. The Rams coach Martin stated, “We hope to
do better in the future. The kids worked hard but give Windham credit. They hit
the ball well and their pitcher threw well. “We knew coming in she was going to
throw strikes and you could see the last couple of innings she got on top of
us.” The Eagles also played well defensively as Catcher Sadie Nelson picked a
runner off first and shortstop Madison Elliott turned a soft line drive into a
double play.
The Lady Eagles
will face top-ranked Scarborough on Thursday for the quarterfinals.
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