Sam St. Hilaire allows only four hits and strikes out 14 batters for the Hornets.
BREWER – When recent Leavitt Area High School graduate Gretchen Conn’s single to left field plated two runners in the third inning Thursday evening, including Sam St. Hilaire, Conn considered the mound merits of the Hornets’ junior southpaw and suspected those runs might have been enough to secure a championship.
“Sam’s awesome,” said Conn. “She’s our star.”
Before and after that two-out rally, St. Hilaire did what stars do in supremely meaningful games, allowing only four hits and striking out 14 to lead top-seeded Leavitt to a 3-1 victory over Brewer for its second straight Eastern Class A softball title.
Leavitt (19-0) returns to Coffin Field at 11 a.m. Saturday to defend its state crown against Noble High School of Berwick.
St. Hilaire dominated a Brewer lineup whose calling card all season was its ability to make contact against almost everyone.
The Witches (15-4) struck out only 50 times prior to the regional final, but St. Hilaire racked up her first seven outs in that fashion. By game’s end, she fanned leadoff hitter Amy Freeman four times and stymied Emily McLaughlin, Rachel Wing, Vanessa Michaud and Kate Hanlon each twice.
“She throws a lot harder than anybody we’ve seen, and she mixes up her pitches well,” said Brewer coach Kelly Cookson. “Everyone up here just throws hard.”
Brewer’s Sarah DeFilipp entered the game with similar credentials: a 12-1 record and 0.91 ERA. The Hornets notched at least one base hit in every inning, however, and put a runner in scoring position each frame.
“Normally the teams we see in the playoffs, we’ve already played them three to four times during the season,” said Conn. “We didn’t know anything about Brewer, really, and that was kind of exciting.”
Leavitt had a surprise or two in store for the Penobscot Valley Conference champions, as well. Junior third baseman Alanna Leonard set up the Hornets’ first run in the second inning, clobbering a one-out triple to left field.
Annie Dyer’s slow one-hopper to shortstop drove home pinch runner Emily Page.
“Their big-hitting girls didn’t hurt us as much as the unexpected kids,” said Cookson.
Leonard finished 3-for-3, adding a leadoff double in the fourth and a single in the sixth.
Freshman designated hitter Beth Burgess triggered the third-inning uprising with a single from the No. 9 slot. St. Hilaire followed with a sharply hit potential double play ball to second base, but Freeman’s hard throw fell out of shortstop Carolyn McAvoy’s glove, leaving two on with nobody out.
DeFilipp coaxed Laura Pratt into a pop out to short and Kristen Healy into a grounder to first prior to Conn’s connection.
Timely hitting, alert base running and relatively tidy defense have been the hallmarks of Leavitt’s playoff charge. None of those were a given, the Hornets admitted, during a late-season funk that culminated in a loss to Messalonskee in the KVAC championship exhibition.
“We definitely struggled,” St. Hilaire said. “I don’t know what, but something happened. Everybody’s upbeat again and having fun.”
Brewer scored its run with two out in the fifth. McAvoy ripped St. Hilaire’s offering over the head of right fielder Dyer for an inside-the-park home run, her second of the season.
Christine Thoms followed with a single. St. Hilaire struck out McLaughlin to end the threat, though, and the Witches never reached base again.
St. Hilaire (2-for-3) and Leonard were the only repeat hitters.
“I wish we could mix it up with the kind of teams they play in the KVAC,” said Cookson. “That type of schedule would only help us in a big game like this.”
Conn and Kristen Healy are the lone seniors on a battle-tested Leavitt squad that has a history with its championship game opponent.
“Noble knocked us out of the (Western Maine) playoffs my sophomore year,” said Conn, recalling the Hornets’ last loss in the Maine Principals’ Association tournament. “That hurt my feelings. I don’t want any of these girls to have to experience that.”
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