St. Dom’s offense explodes with 11 hits.

AUBURN – After having nearly two weeks off, the St. Dom’s softball players are getting back into the swing of things.

The Saints played their third game of the week Friday and made it look easy with a 17-1 win over Traip Academy in five innings.

The Saints started the regular season with a 3-1 loss to Gray-New Gloucester in mid April. St. Dom’s didn’t play another game until this week.

“There was a big gap in between,” said senior third baseman Erica Dorso. “After we played Gray, it seemed like forever. We tried to get some scrimmages in, and it just didn’t work out. We just want to play.”

Despite the layoff, the Saints have looked pretty sharp this week. St. Dom’s pounded out 11 hits against the Rangers and broke things open with 11 runs in the fourth inning.

“We hit the ball pretty good today,” said St. Dom’s coach Dan Samson. “Once the kids started hitting the ball, we have a pretty good lineup.”

The top of the lineup did a multitude of damage. Dorso scored four runs, had two hits and drove in a run. Sarah Caron had three hits, three runs scored and one RBI. Jess Desrosiers drove in three runs while Elisha Dorso scored three times and had two hits.

“We came out firing today,” said Dorso, whose team blanked Buckfield and Freeport earlier in the week. “We did really good. We scored runs in the first inning. We got baserunners on. We didn’t leave too many on base.”

The early lead would be all Amanda Collette would need. She struck out eight in five innings and walked none. Traip (0-2) managed just two hits.

“Amanda pitched a hell of a game,” said Samson. “She was really starting to fire it at the end.”

After building a 6-1 lead, the Saints (3-1) finished the game off in the fourth. Desrosiers and Caron capped off the barrage with back-to-back home runs. Desrosier had a three-run homer followed by Caron’s solo shot. Caron also had an RBI single in the inning as did Jaime Dorion, Erica Dorso and Elisha Dorso.

The Saints started the game utilizing the small ball and worked their way up. With its speed and bunting, the Saints were able to take advantage of the lax Traip defense and capitalized on walks, stolen bases and passed balls.

“Our goal basically is to get on base right away,” said Dorso. “We don’t worry about the big hits. We just want to get on base and bunt and move the runners over. That’s our goal at the beginning of the game.”

The Saints got three runs in the first with just one hit. Erica Dorso scored on a Laura Robitzek fielder’s choice. Elisha Dorso and Caron each scored on passed balls.

In the third, Erica Dorso scored on an error and Robitzek came in on a Caron single. Then in the third, Emily Goss made it 6-0 when she scored on a Maria Saucier fielder’s choice.

Traip’s lone run came in the top of the fourth when Jill Seward singled in Emma Brake. It was just the fourth run St. Dom’s has allowed this year.