TURNER — A throwback in this day of measured pitch counts and mandated rest, Waterville’s Brian Bellows prefers to finish what he starts on the hill.

And when you work as efficiently as Bellows did Monday afternoon, why not? Bellows allowed three Leavitt singles, and all three runners were wiped out by double plays. The third one tallied the final outs of a 6-0 KVAC victory for the Purple Panthers.

Waterville’s junior southpaw faced the minimum 21 batters in his fourth complete game of the spring. Bellows threw 77 pitches, 53 for strikes, and fired a first-pitch strike to all but four Hornets hitters.

“We had a great defensive day,” Bellows said. “My curveball was really working well. My off-speed pitches were doing great. I was hitting the corners.

Drew Gosselin had a bloop single to lead off the second inning and a line drive up the middle to start the fifth. He and No. 5 hitter Levi Morin were erased 5-4-3 and 4-6-3, respectively.

Brian Bedard singled to left field with one out in the seventh. Owen Brown flagged down Tyler Hutchinson’s one-hopper for an easy out at first, then threw a strike to Tyler Bouchard to nab Bedard and end the game.

“Every time they started something, one of our kids made a play and turned it around,” Waterville coach Don Sawyer said.

On the outside looking in at the Western Class B playoff race, Leavitt (5-8) sorely needed a win over Eastern No. 2 Waterville (11-3) to ignite the stretch drive.

Waterville reached Morin for a run on Kaleb Kane’s double in the first.

Alan Wood, A.J. Godin and Adam Barre — the Panthers’ 7-8-9 hitters — all rounded the bases to make it 4-0 in the second. Wood walked in front of consecutive singles by Godin, Barre and Dan Pooler. Bellows added a sacrifice fly and an RBI.

In addition to its silent bats, Leavitt was undone by three errors, a passed ball, a wild pitch, six Waterville stolen bases and three unearned runs.

“You can’t give a team like that more runs,” Leavitt coach Dave Bochtler said. “But it’s not like we beat ourselves. If you don’t score runs, you aren’t going to beat anybody.”

Bellows struck out six and made a nice, ranging grab in foul territory for another out.

Leavitt’s Nate Coombs had a hard-hit ball in the seventh inning sail into reserve second baseman Dalton Wood’s glove, almost without a flinch.

Waterville banged out 11 hits, including two apiece by Pooler, Godin and Barre.

“When they find gaps, what can you say, right?” Sawyer said. “That ball they hit where our second baseman just happened to be there, we’d like (to hit) eight or nine of those a game.”

Morin worked six innings, walking five and scattering 10 hits, before turning it over to Hutchinson.

Bedard and Coombs threw out runners at home to minimize the damage. But the Hornets couldn’t keep that momentum rolling in the home half of the inning.

“That kid’s a good pitcher,” Bochtler said of Bellows. “He kept us off-balance up there.”

koakes@sunjournal.com