By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

SOUTH PARIS – Young teams are prone to show their age sooner or later.

So Monday, the Oxford Hills softball team bided its time. When the opportunities finally arrived, the Vikings pounced in a 12-0 win over Mt. Blue in six innings.

“We were going to jump on them early,” said Oxford Hills pitcher Randi Arsenault. “We had a little trouble doing that, but we wanted to attack right off and get them down.”

The Cougars (1-8) stayed with the Vikings for two innings, but in the third, Oxford Hills (7-2) scored five runs to open a 6-0 advantage. The Vikings added two each in the next three innings to pad the lead.

“We’ve been really competitive all year,” said Mt. Blue coach Tim Shumway, who took over a team that went 0-16 last year and has just one senior. “It’s the first time we’ve been mercy-ruled. It’s really disappointing. We didn’t put the ball in play, and we didn’t make the plays behind our pitcher.”

The Vikings pounded out eight hits and took advantage of nine Mt. Blue errors. The offense got off to a slow start but had seven hits over the final three innings.

“The other day the offense came alive a lot later than that,” said Oxford Hills coach Cindy Goddard. “We’ve actually been hitting quite well. Different kids have been making the contact.”

Annie Foster scored three runs for the Vikings while Amber Millett drove in a pair. Jill Cole and Molly Dow also drove in runs. Arsenault held the Cougars to just one hit in five innings. Megan Richard, Anna Ross and Natasha Howard had the only hits for the Cougars.

“My strategy today was to come out and get up on batters and work hard changing speeds and just go at them,” said Arsenault, who was relieved by Sam Dolloff in the fifth.

Mt. Blue junior Larissa O’Connor made her first start at the varsity level. She allowed just one hit in the first two innings but got into trouble after that. Richard came on in relief in the fifth.

“She’s been throwing at the JV level,” said Shumway. “She needed some experience to start the year off. At 1-7, we’ve got to give her a chance at some point. She pitched well at times and worked herself into trouble at times.”

The Vikings got its first run when Foster walked, stole second and took third on a passed ball in the second. She scored on a wild pitch. In the third, the Vikings’ speed cashed in on mistakes, three walks and four hits. Two runs came in on wild pitches. Cole also drove in a run with a single, and Millett had a two-run hit.

“We definitely have a lot more speed this year than last year,” said Arsenault. “We’re trying to utilize that.”

In the fourth, Dow singled in a run and scored on an error. In the fifth, an error and a fielder’s choice by Dolloff made it 10-0. The Vikings plated two more on errors in the sixth.