SOUTH PARIS – The last six outs proved to be the toughest to get for the Oxford Hills softball team Thursday.

Clinging to a 1-0 lead, the Vikings watched Brewer rally to tie the game in the sixth and then erupt for five runs in the seventh in a 6-1 Eastern A quarterfinal victory.

“They hit the ball and made good contact, even in the early innings,” said Oxford Hills coach Cindy Goddard. “We’ve kind of had issues with when something starts rolling. It just keeps rolling, and we haven’t been able to shut that down.”

Brewer took advantage of an error in the sixth to tie it, and then pounded out four hits to break the game open in the seventh

“We don’t get shaky,” said freshman shortstop Katie McLaughlin, who delivered a two-run single in the seventh to break the 1-1 tie. “We might mentally, but we don’t show it on the field. We just have to come out strong. We have to stay focused and stay fired up and energetic. We knew we had it in us, and we had to show it.”

The Witches (12-5) managed just three hits in the first five innings against Kristy Jurczak. Trailing 1-0 and down to just six outs, the Witches tied the game with the help of an error in the sixth. Emily Fraser reached on a miscue and stole second and third. She scored on an Amy Curry single.

The Vikings, which had just four hits and none after the fourth, threatened in the bottom of the inning. Brewer’s Mel Judkins, who came on in relief in the fourth, walked two of the first three batters but served up a fly out and a strike to escape the inning.

“She’s come on strong,” said Brewer coach Skip Estes. “She had the whooping cough in midseason and was lost for two weeks. She had another injury and lost another week.”

In the seventh, Allie DeFilipp and Judkins led off with singles. Senior pinch-hitter Maria Liberatore singled to load the bases.

“We have a lot of confidence in a lot of our kids,” said Estes. “In a couple scrimmages this week, Maria’s bat got really strong. So I knew when I put her in that she’d either lay down the bunt or put the ball in play.”

McLaughlin followed and drilled a single up the middle to plate two runs. Two more came in on wild pitches, and Amanda Ryan singled in another.

“I hadn’t hit well the whole game,” said McLaughlin. “I knew the bases were loaded. I was kind of hoping to hit it in the outfield, and they’d tag up and score the run, but that worked out better.”

The Vikings (13-4) initially broke the stalemate in the fourth. Megan Gauger singled and Mindy Rugg tripled her home. After a strike out, Breanna Martin laid down a squeeze bunt. Brewer catcher Leah Jackson grabbed the ball and lunged back to tag out Rugg at the plate. She then gunned out Martin at second.

“That’s the gamble that you play,” said Goddard. “The runner getting out at second was the big one. You’d still have a runner at second and there’d be two outs. We still had a shot. That is a gamble, but what really hurt us was the out at second and getting picked off at first base (in the first inning). Those little things early on can kind of add up.”