POLAND – ‘Frustrating’ is a word being used freely in the Poland softball world lately.

And a visit from one of the best teams in Western Class C didn’t help matters much Saturday, either.

Meg Poulin, Kelsey Murphy and Heidi Nadeau smacked three hits each and Lindsey Nance twirled a five-hit shutout to lead St. Dom’s to a convincing 12-0 win over Poland, which had dropped a tight contest to York just one day earlier.

“Communication was the biggest thing in the game today,” Poland coach Nicole Lovejoy said. “We didn’t bring our ‘A’ game today. We played awesome against York (on Friday), but couldn’t find it today.”

The Saints, meanwhile, were coming off an emotional 11-2 win over rival Sacopee Valley on Friday, and had to play without all-star shortstop Mary Lewis.

It didn’t matter much, not the way Nance was throwing.

“She pitched in back-to-back games now, and that’s good,” St. Dom’s coach Brian Kay said. “This way, we can see what she has. She didn’t seem to have a letup, which is a good thing.”

Behind Nance, the Saints (8-1) were solid defensively, and in support of her on the offensive side of things, Poland had a hard time slowing them down.

“They’re doing what they’re supposed to do on offense, and they’re making the defensive plays behind our pitching,” Kay said.

The Saints got things going early. After a quick pop out to start the game, Alex Landry and Nance drew walks. Kelsey Murphy belted a single and Erynne Landry reached on an error. All four girls crossed the plate to make it 4-0 quickly for St. Dom’s.

The Saints tacked on three more off Poland hurler Colleen Murphy in the second, which prompted Lovejoy to change pitchers in the third, with the team trailing 7-0.

The bottom of the Saints’ order went 1-2-3 in the third. Poulin and Meg Lawrence, running for Nance, crossed the plate in the fourth on three clean singles in the inning, and Nadeau and Mariah Maheux scored in the fifth, again on three hits.

Kelsey Murphy scored her third run of the game in the sixth and Nance wiggled out of her only jam in the bottom of that same inning to end the game by the 12-run mercy rule.

Poland’s Tessa Mascetta banged out two hits for the second consecutive game to lead the Knights (0-10).