Becca Zimmerman of St. Dom’s (13) has to slide through Buckfield’s Cara Merrill, left, and Cassidy Lowell while trying to steal second base during a game in Auburn last Tuesday. (Wil Kramlich/Sun Journal File Photo)

The softball season can be a marathon, and that means coaches have to take a look at the long view at times, even in the middle of a game.

That led to some eventful final innings for Buckfield and Oxford Hills in victories last week. But neither team’s coach would do anything differently if they had the chance.

The Bucks were up 24-0 against St. Dominic Academy last Tuesday when they made sweeping changes in the field. The Saints chopped the deficit in half before eventually going down in defeat.

“We have a big squad, so I just wanted to get them all in,” Bucks coach Sandy Albert said.

Albert also made a pitching change with two outs, bringing in freshman Cara Merrill to replace senior Julia Dow.

The switch may have had more meaning for the long-term than the short, something Vikings coach Cindy Goddard had in mind when she brought in a reliever during a win over Lewiston last Wednesday.

Lauren Merrill kept the Blue Devils in check through six innings, but with the Vikings up 7-0 Goddard brought in Ashley Childs to finish off the game.

“They know that everyone has a role, and we try to do that any time we can. If we’re losing by a lot or winning by a lot we try to get everyone in because everyone is valuable,” Goddard said. “And you never know when you’re going to need them.

“We’re a 12-man roster, and we try to use all 12 people when we can because we’re part of a team.”

Merrill performed her new role in the dugout for the seventh inning the same we she did in the circle for the first six.

“(Lauren) was the one hollering the loudest, cheering (Ashley) on,” assistant coach Dan Daniels said.

Green-and-golden gloves

Merrill and Childs didn’t hold down Lewiston by themselves. The Oxford Hills defense played a starring role in the victory as well.

It started in the top of the first inning, when the Vikings calmly and confidently gloved a pair of grounders and threw both balls on-target to first base to record two big outs to get out of a two-on, one-out jam.

Four of the next six outs all came on grounders, with another a liner that shortstop Kaisa Heikkinen caught.

And when the Vikings did make their only error, they made up for it immediately. Heikkinen rebounded from a throwing error to lead off the fourth by making a diving stop and relaying to second for a fielder’s choice force-out. The rest of the Oxford Hills infield then combined for an inning-ending double play.

“That doesn’t happen very happen, so it’s kind of nice,” Goddard said.

Hustling homer

Wednesday wasn’t the first time that Oak Hill’s Miranda Kramer hit a home run. She said she hit one while playing in a dome once, but that just required hitting the ball far enough and high enough to clear a designated home run line.

The one she hit against Hall-Dale came with a little more effort.

Kramer smacked the ball over the head of Hall-Dale’s right fielder and it rolled all the way to the fence. Kramer watched the play unfold running down the first-base line and just kept running.

“It’s not guaranteed. They could get it in at any moment, so you still got to be on top of your toes and running as fast as you can,” Kramer said.

Road blues

Poland couldn’t have had a better start to the season, beating a Freeport team 17-0 that co-coaches Kayla Vannah and Kat Seeley thought could be a darkhorse in the Western Maine Conference and Class B South region. And it was a road victory, no less.

Since then, however, wins away from home have been harder to come by.

The Knights (5-6) haven’t won on the road since, dropping five away games in a row. Vannah lamented about that after the fourth defeat in the streak — a loss at Gray-New Gloucester.

“We’ve had a hard time with away games,” Vannah said. “As a coaching staff, we haven’t been able to figure out what to do in order to turn that around.”

Three of the Knights’ final five games will be at home, and one of the two remaining road games will them a chance at revenge for an earlier 3-1 loss at Sacopee Valley.

For what it’s worth, heading into Thursday’s slate of games Poland was in position for a home game in the preliminary round of the playoffs.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

Lewiston’s Emily Mousseau is out on a double play at first base as Oxford Hills’ Brooke Carson completes the play during last Wednesday afternoon’s game in South Paris.(Andree Kehn/Sun Journal File Photo)

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