GORHAM — It had been a week since Scarborough High’s softball team had last played and Tom Griffin wondered how his players would react Monday against improving Gorham. Would they be rusty? Would they be overanxious?
Turns out the Red Storm were just about perfect.
Scarborough pounded 18 hits to back the three-hit pitching of Lilly Volk and pulled away from the Rams for a 15-0 victory at Robie Field. Scarborough totaled nine runs in the last three innings.
“They have a lot of weapons batters one through nine and it can wear down a team,” said Rams Coach Renee Thibodeau.
“We played a good solid few innings and now we just need to learn from that and put a good solid seven together.”
Maggie Murphy had four hits and three RBI for Scarborough (6-0), and Kaleigh Scoville drove in four runs with three hits, including a long home run to right field.
“Our lineup, one through 16, they’re all good players,” said Scoville. “There’s not a hole anywhere.”
Volk, meanwhile, settled down after allowing three baserunners in the first two innings. Gorham (5-3) had only two the rest of the way and Volk wiped one of them out when she started a double play. She struck out seven.
“She brings a calm, competitive vibe when she’s on the mound,” said Murphy. “And it’s comforting for the infielders to have that.”
Scarborough got a couple of runs in the first on a sacrifice fly by Chloe Gorey and an RBI double by Scoville. The Red Storm added a run in the second on an RBI double by Murphy, then another in the third on Scoville’s home run.
Scoville said it was important to get that early lead.
“Those girls, you can tell the athleticism on (Gorham),” she said. “They came out strong with some enthusiasm. It’s just … we have bats. And it’s hard to play against a team that’s hitting balls in gaps over your head.”
And it’s not just the starters. Griffin uses everyone on his roster.
“We’ve got complete confidence in anybody off the bench,” said Griffin. “They square up the ball. They do a nice job going with the pitch, going to the opposite field. Those are things these kids work at and they handle themselves.
“They’re kids that can make adjustments as the game goes on and they’re constantly talking about that in the dugout. They’re just a special group.”
Griffin said the week off turned out to be beneficial.
“I think all the things we worked on really paid off,” he said. “We saw some of those things develop in the game today. We had a chance to work on little things.”
Like catching balls in the sun? Yep, they did that, when the sun happened to make a brief appearance.
“Each day at practice we work on the little things,” said Murphy. “That’s what we do.”
“The best teams work on the little things,” said Scoville. “And doing the little things right.”
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