BUCKFIELD – The storm front passing through brought the thunder Saturday afternoon, but it was the Buckfield bats that brought the flashes of lightning.
The Bucks had the aluminum heating up and broke open the Western D softball semifinal. The Bucks return to the regional championship game with a 10-3 victory over Rangeley.
Buckfield cranked out nine hits in a span of three innings and built a lead the Lakers couldn’t overcome.
“Our batting is something we’ve worked a lot on this week,” said Buckfield coach Ken Farrington. “We’ve been trying to prepare for Tuesday and trying to get there, and the bats did do well today.”
Freshman Kasey Farrington drove in three runs with two hits, while Tiffany Dunn had three hits and scored three runs. Desiree Brackett had three hits and two RBIs, and Lindsey Neal drove in a pair with two hits.
“We were really excited for the game,” said Dunn. “We were pumped. We were a little nervous at first, and a little rocky because our bats weren’t too strong. We had a few errors in the field. After we got the momentum, we started to play ball, and Buckfield teamwork started to show.”
The Bucks had lost in the semifinals last year and return to its eighth Western D final in the last nine years.
“We talked about last year,” said Ken Farrington. “They were confident that they could win, and I reminded them that they were confident they could win last year.”
Though Rangeley had six hits, four of them came in the final three innings.
“We can get the hitting going,” said Rangeley coach Stephanie Vigneault, whose team pounded out 21 runs against Forest Hills in the quarterfinals. “It’s such a transition from playing less challenging teams to going into Buckfield and Richmond. We can hit, but I think it just takes a little bit because of the speed. We haven’t seen a lot of that.”
The Lakers were within 2-1 through the first few innings, but the Bucks changed that in a hurry in the third. With weather threatening in the distance, it was the Bucks offense that rained on the Lakers. After Dunn and Brackett each singled, Farrington drilled a gapper to left for a triple to make it 4-1. She scored when Neal followed with a single.
“I get more comfortable when I get two strikes on me,” said Kasey Farrington. “When she threw the change-up, I was ready for it.”
In the fourth, Shayna Shackford scored when Brittany Brackett reached on an error. She scored on a Desiree Brackett single. Dunn later scored on a Farrington ground out.
Shackford scored on a wild pitch in the fifth for a 9-1 lead before Rangeley scored a pair in the sixth. Krista Jamison doubled in a run and scored on an error. The Bucks added another in the bottom of the inning on a Neal single.
“This was an awesome game,” said Vigneault, who has just two seniors. “There was nothing to be ashamed about. We’ve seen our progress this season. I can’t wait for next season.”
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