DIXFIELD – Mistakes proved costly to Dirigo’s young softball team.
Bree Loon pitched another gem and the offense made enough contact as the Jay Tigers remained unbeaten with an 8-0 shutout against the Dirigo Cougars at chilly Marble Park.
“You can’t make mistakes against a good team,” Dirigo coach Bob Karcher said. “We struggle for runs, so when you go up against a better team, we can’t afford to give them runs. We made some mental mistakes and it cost us.”
Loon (3-0) set the tone early by getting ahead in the count, and then throwing the ball up the ladder. Loon allowed two singles and struck out 15, including every Cougar starter at least once.
The southpaw has fanned 48 batters in 21 innings.
A bunt single by C.C. Chow led off the third, but Loon preceded to strike out the next six batters. Shannon Daley hit a solid single up the middle in the fifth and promptly stole second base. She was stranded there when Loon fanned Megan Russell and Chow.
“We’ve faced two of the top pitchers in the conference,” Karcher said. “Danielle Grey of Livermore Falls and Loon both throw the ball over 50 miles per hour, so a young team like ours can’t (anticipate) scoring many runs. We need to be able to do other things correctly.”
Jay took a 2-0 lead when two walks led to a pair of runs in the second. Tiffany Couture knocked in one on an infield out. Kaylie Demillo also walked and scored in the third.
The Tigers had three singles – Desire Castonguay, Kristen Adams and Sara Fetterhoff – but took advantage of Dirigo pitcher Katie Hutchinson’ nine walks.
“I’d like to see more offense,” Jay coach Robin Roberts said. “But, it’s not a big concern because our batters are making contact. Bree is obviously a key, but we have a strong defense, especially (Castonguay) at third and (Felicia Floyd) at first base. Teams will try to bunt on us and it’s important that we’re able to take that away.”
Dirigo (0-2) received a solid defensive effort from Abby Fenstermacher at shortstop and Russell in centerfield.
Jay broke the game open with five runs in the fifth. Loon had a sacrifice fly and Adams hit an RBI single.
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