Instead, they were ecstatic when the bats pounded out six in the final inning to break open the tie game and beat Oxford Hills 11-6.

“It was an unbelievable feeling,” said senior catcher Nicole Rugan, who led that final inning production with a two-run homer.  “We were down a few players because of school trips. Battling that out and meshing as a team was really good.”

Rugan drove in a pair with her home run while Sonja Morse, Molly Russell and Maggie Russell each had two hits and an RBI for the Rams (4-0) who lost in the Eastern A semifinals last year.

“They came alive,” said Oxford Hills coach Cindy Goddard. “They hit. We didn’t really fall apart. They just hit the ball and we didn’t catch everything in the outfield that was catch-able. It would have been easier if it wasn’t for the way the wind was blowing.”

The Vikings (2-2) were plagued by seven errors. There were a couple of drops in the outfield and Rugan’s home run was misjudged as a blustery wind circled the field the entire game.

“They hit the ball more to the outfield than we did,” said Goddard. “So that was big.”

Annika Kahkonen led Oxford Hills with three hits.

Morse for Cony and Crystal West battled the wind and cold in the pitcher’s circle. Morse allowed just four hits and struck out 12. West allowed 11 hits and struck out 14.

“Crystal did a great job on the mound,” said Goddard. “She struck out six in a row at one point. She had a tough last inning, but it was a pretty good effort for her.”

Down 5-3 after four innings, Cony tied it with a pair in the sixth. Molly Russell tripled in a run and scored on a Maggie Russell single.

In the seventh, Alyssah Dennett reached second on an error. After a fly out, Rugan drilled a line drive to center that went for a homer and a 7-5 lead.

“I was a little frustrated at first because I wasn’t really hitting the ball where I wanted to in the first couple of innings,” said Rugan. “So when I got up, I just knew to breathe and relax. If I made contact, I knew it would do something, and it did.”

A dropped fly in the outfield on a Cecilia Fuller hit scored two more. Then a single by MacKenzie Stevens drove in one run, and when the ball was misplayed, another scored for the 11-5 lead.

“We’re strong overall in batting but the top of the order, we usually get it going,” said Rugan. “When we have two outs, we’re unbelievably strong. It’s really odd but we’re power hitters when we have two outs. It gets us going, and we can rip it. Even the end of the order was ripping it.”

The Vikings got one back in the seventh when Kahkonen scored her second run of the game. She doubled and later came in on a wild pitch.

“We’re really young,” said Goddard. “So just to be there and for our kids to see that we can play with these guys, that’s good.”

Oxford Hills took the 1-0 lead in the first when Ashley West singled to score Kahkonen. Cony took the lead in the third with three runs. Olivia Deeves doubled in a run and later scored on an error on a Rugan grounder. Morse singled in Rugan for the 3-1 lead.

The Vikings got one in the third when Angel Witham scored on a passed ball and error. The Oxford Hills got three more in the fourth to take the 5-3 lead.

Abby Bernier scored on a wild pitch. Kahkonen singled to right that was misplayed, allowing two runs to score.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game,” said Rugan. “We always come here and we have a really tough battle against them.”

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