PORTLAND — Thornton Academy sophomore pitcher Julia Geaumont wasn’t perfect Friday, but she was pretty close to it.
Geaumont pitched a one-hitter to lead the fifth-seeded Trojans to a 5-2 win against No. 4 Cheverus in a Western Class A softball quarterfinal.
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The Trojans will be on the road again today to play top-seeded Scarborough, the defending state champion, in a 1 p.m. semi-final.
It was the Trojans’ second win of the season against the Stags, but it was a much different game than the seesaw contest the teams played on May 17, when Thornton held on for a 9-8 victory.
“I definitely didn’t pitch my best game when we played them the first time,” said Geaumont, who took a no-hitter into the fifth inning Friday. “Today, all my pitches were working really well, so I was just trying to pitch to the batters’ weaknesses. Whatever was working that inning, I threw.”
Geaumont, who struck out five and walked five, mixed a rising fastball with a hard drop and a tantalizing change-up to thoroughly frustrate Cheverus.
“She was a little frustrated early on about not getting some called strikes,” said Thornton Coach Jon Provost. “But she had everything going and she just hung in there and hit her spots and tried to keep them off balance.”
“Unfortunately, we didn’t make any adjustments,” said Cheverus Coach Amy McMullin.
“We knew she was going to pitch outside and we didn’t adjust. That’s our own fault.
“She pitched a great game. You have to hand it to her, absolutely, but I’m disappointed we didn’t make the adjustments.”
The Trojans gave Geaumont all the support she needed by scoring all of their runs in the first inning.
“It helps me so much,” Geaumont said. “You’re a different pitcher when you have more runs on the board.”
The Trojans (13-4) loaded the bases when Hannah Ebling and Geaumont sandwiched singles around a walk. With two outs, Megan Fifield drilled a two-run double into the left center-field gap. Vanessa McCrum followed by grounding a two-run single to left to make it 4-0. The final run scored on a throwing error.
“We wanted to jump out early and put a little pressure on them, and it seemed to work,” Provost said.
Cheverus (12-5) threatened in the bottom of the first when Geaumont walked three batters.
Theresa Hendrix led off with a walk, moved to second on Anna Snook’s sacrifice and scored on a throwing error while attempting to steal third.
After Audrey Grinnell walked, Jasmyn Welch sent a fly ball to deep left, but Kristen Duross made a great running catch for the second out.
Snook hit a solid single to left in the fifth to break up Geaumont’s bid for her second no-hitter of the season.
With two outs, Hendrix walked, moved to second on Geaumont’s only wild pitch and scored on Snook’s hit.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:
pbetit@pressherald.com
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