BETHEL — Tasha DeRoche was ready and waiting.

With a full count in the top of the seventh inning, the Dirigo senior was expecting a pitch to hit. She wasn’t disappointed.

“When it was 3-2, I usually think that pitchers try to save themselves and go down the middle,” DeRoche said. “I was kind of prepared for it. She’s fast. I swung, and it went.”

DeRoche drilled a leadoff triple and scored on an Ambyr Wilson fielder’s choice to put the Cougars up by one, and Cami Denney finished off a fine pitching performance in the bottom of the final inning to lift Dirigo to a 3-2 win over Telstar.

“We’ve gotten a chance to refocus a little bit,” Dirigo coach Sara Thurston said. “This was our sixth game in the last week-and-a-half. So it’s been an intense half week.”

The defending Western C champs had lost four straight to playoff-caliber teams Oak Hill, Spruce Mountain, Monmouth and Mountain Valley.

“I didn’t like losing,” DeRoche said. “I think this will bring us back. Our attitude, our practice Saturday helped a lot.”

Denney pitched a four-hitter for the Cougars (9-5), allowing just one hit after the first inning. She struck out six and walked none.

“She was hitting her spots and pitching all of her different pitches, which is nice when she can get them all in in a day,” said Thurston.

Dirigo was also solid in the field. Gabby Scott made a fine sliding catch in left. DeRoche gobbled up everything at short while Wilson made a fine stretch at first to get an out.

Jess Dirago struckout 15, walked five and hit a batter. Dirigo had seven hits off her, including two by DeRoche.

“It’s disappointing,” said Telstar coach Jim Lunney, whose team has dropped two straight. “We didn’t get a big hit. In the first inning, we did. Then we got nothing. We were just popping the ball up and swinging at high pitches.”

With second place in Western C on the line, Dirigo rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the first. With the game tied in the seventh, DeRoche led off the inning. Dirago struck out DeRoche in similar circumstances in the fifth, getting her on a half swing of a pitch DeRoche regretted chasing. The second time, DeRoche forced the full count and made Dirago gave her a pitch she wanted. The offering was up a bit but over the plate enough for DeRoche to drive to left for a triple.

That gave Wilson a chance to bring her home. She hit a grounder to third that was relayed to first for the out, allowing DeRoche to score.

“When the girl had it at third, I thought she was going to look back and get me, but I was going,” said DeRoche.

Telstar had a played called in order to try and get DeRoche at third but there was a throw to first instead.

“The winning run, we had a play on her, the pump play,” said Lunney. “If it came this side, we pump it and just tag her. She was off the bag. We could have had her trapped. We’re still young, and we don’t make the plays. We have to be more sound defensively.”

Denney put the Rebels (8-4) down in order in the seventh, including back-to-back strikeouts to end the game.

Telstar built an early 2-0 lead with three hits in the first. After Taylor Savage and Becca Howard each singled, Dirago delivered a two-run double.

“We never threatened after that first inning,” said Lunney, whose team had just one hit, a Dirago single in the third, the rest of the way. “She did a nice job of pitching and we didn’t do a very good job hitting. We weren’t selective on pitches.”

Dirigo got one back in the third when DeRoche tripled in Emma Lueders, who had reached on an infield hit. Then in the fourth, the Cougars tied it. Megan Bradbury walked and Gretchen Bradbury singled with one out. Britney Ellis followed with a single up the middle.

“People sometimes get in hitting slumps,” Thurston said. “We’ve all been in one the last several games. We’re all going to come out of it. We just have to keep working hard and keep swinging the bats.”

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