Pitcher Sam St. Hilaire helps keep it together for Leavitt.
TURNER – The age-old question: Is it more difficult to win an athletic championship, or defend it?
At the moment, the Leavitt softball team doesn’t care. All the Hornets know is that they’re about to find out.
No. 1 Leavitt scored two runs in each of the first two innings Saturday and rode a gritty pitching performance by Sam St. Hilaire thereafter to a 5-3 Eastern Class A semifinal victory over No. 4 Cony.
The defending state champion Hornets (18-0) will travel to Coffin Field in Brewer for the regional final at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Last year, Leavitt won the tournament as a No. 5 seed. As the defender, the bull’s-eye is squarely on their broadened shoulders.
“I think it’s more difficult this year,” said catcher Kristen Healy, who drove in three runs for the Hornets. “There’s more expected of us being the state champions. We have to go into that game with the attitude that we have everything to lose.”
That sense of urgency served Leavitt well in its second victory in less than 24 hours. In between those playoff conquests, Leavitt’s graduating seniors also enjoyed those festivities. Compound that with a KVAC rival hungry for revenge, and the Hornets faced a tough day’s work.
“Cony is definitely a quality team,” said Leavitt coach Pete Higgins. “Just like the last time we played them, they hit the ball well against us.”
Also like last time, the Rams surprised St. Hilaire and the Hornets by grabbing an early 1-0 lead.
St. Hilaire weaved a no-hitter in Friday’s quarterfinal victory over Oxford Hills. Cony (15-3) averted a similar fate when its first batter of the game, Becca Giroux, ripped a double over the head of left fielder Jess Paladino to the left-field wall.
Giroux moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, and the Hornets appeared to escape the inning when St. Hilaire coaxed Kayla Beaudoin and Devon Gaslin into two soft grounders. A throwing error put Gaslin aboard, however, and permitted Giroux to score.
Undaunted, Leavitt responded with two runs in the bottom of the first and another pair in the second.
Gaslin walked St. Hilaire to trigger the first-inning rally. Healy drove home the tying run with a double to left-center, and Beth Ellis put the Hornets on top with an RBI single to right.
“We know when we score runs early that it’s kind of like insurance,” Healy said.
Annie Dyer, Beth Burgess and Laura Pratt each drew a walk to load the bases in the second. Healy cashed in, greeting relief pitcher Amanda LaPointe with a two-run poke to right.
Cony scratched out single tallies in the third and fourth to close the gap to one run.
Twin doubles to the gap in left-center by LaPointe and Kayla Beaudoin made it 4-2.
While it wasn’t the most overpowering performance of her season, St. Hilaire buckled down with runners in scoring position. She notched her first strikeout victim, Gaslin, to close the third frame.
After Courtney Clark’s leadoff triple and Ashley Mason’s RBI sacrifice bunt in the fourth, St. Hilaire fanned Hilary Neault and Amanda Jean to quell the threat. She finished with eight strikeouts.
Leavitt’s fourth inning also started with a three-bagger, this one by Steph Healy, who scored on a wild pitch.
The two-run cushion held up for St. Hilaire. She froze runners at second and third in the seventh by striking out LaPointe and luring Beaudoin into a flyout to Paladino to end the game.
“She was all over the place at times,” Higgins said of St. Hilaire, “but when she has to get it done, she’s pretty tough.”
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