WINSLOW — When you find a weakness, you might as well exploit it, especially when your season’s on the line.

Winslow found a weakness in Ellsworth’s bunt defense Tuesday in an Eastern Class B softball preliminary-round game. Bunting and speed happen to be two of Winslow’s strengths, and the Black Raiders reached base six times on bunts during a 9-3 victory.

Seventh-seeded Winslow (13-4) advanced to face second-seeded Hermon, the defending state champion, on Thursday.

No. 10 Ellsworth (7-10) committed errors on three consecutive bunts to open the third inning. The Eagles made seven errors overall.

“We either play very well (defensively) or not too good, like you saw today,” Ellsworth Coach Rick Roberts said. “We made some mistakes today we shouldn’t have, but typically we’re a pretty good team, pretty strong defensively and solid with our hitting. Today just didn’t happen, that’s all.”

Each team scored an unearned run in the second inning before Winslow broke through with four runs in the bottom of the third. Those three errors to open the inning were followed by RBI singles by Allison Leclair and Jordyn Pomerleau, and the Raiders led 5-1.