Paula Despres walked to the mound and was hitting her spots and frustrating Wiscasset hitters.

Her Spruce Mountain teammates followed her lead and rapped out five hits and six runs in the bottom of the inning.

Between the snap in Despres’ pitches and the pop in the Phoenix bats, Spruce Mountain continued to roll with a 14-1 win over Wiscasset in a mercy-rule shortened game.

It was the seventh straight win for the Phoenix (10-3), who were sixth in Western B entering Friday’s game.

“We’ve had a nice streak of wins, and we’re really coming on strong” said shortstop Kathryn Ventrella.

The Phoenix have scored 104 runs in those seven games and allowed just seven, including a pair of shutouts.

“I feel like, now that we’ve had this winning streak, we’re really coming together a lot as a team,” said Despres. ” We’ve come a long ways hitting, especially from the beginning of the season. I think we’re just working together a lot better.”

The Phoenix belted out 11 hits against Wiscasset. Ashley Dorey, Despres and Emily Acritelli each had two hits. Dorey drove in three runs while Ventrella and Lorayanna Tracy each drove in a pair.

“The bats have been coming around the last few weeks,” said Spruce Mountain coach Robin Roberts.

The six Phoenix runs in the first came after an impressive start by Despres. She struck out the first two batters and put Wiscasset  (6-6) down easily in the first. She finished with eight strikeouts and allowed just four hits, against a team ranked fifth in Western C.

“I definitely felt I was right on,” said Despres, whose been battling a hip injury all season.  “My change-up was working well. That was definitely a help too.”

Wiscasset didn’t get a hit until Megan Corson reached on a dribbler in front of the plate in the third. Brianna Gould accounted for the lone run with a solo homer in the fourth. Wiscasset had two hits in the fifth that did little damage.

“The other night against Mt. Abram, Paula threw the ball hard, and it was really the first time this year that she’s thrown that hard,” said Roberts. “When she does that and the change is there, she’s really effective.”

Spruce Mountain took advantage of three walks to open the bottom of the first. Despres singled in one. Ventrella followed with a two-run double. A Casidee Couture fielder’s choice made it 4-0. Then Tracy and Alexi Deering drove in runs with singles for the 6-0 lead.

“We wanted to come out strong, and we got a lot of runs, which helps boost our confidence for the rest of the game,” said Ventrella.

In the second, Dorey tripled in a run and scored on an error on a Despres grounder to make it 8-0. Acritelli scored on an error in the third to make it 9-0.

The Phoenix added five more in the fourth. A Tracy fielder’s choice plated a run. Couture scored on an error. Then Dorey had a two-run single that also helped Ashlee Quirrion score on a fielder’s choice.

kmills@sunjournal.com

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