Having not pitched since before the rain came, it took an inning for Windham High pitcher Ally Noble to settle into a groove Wednesday.

You wouldn’t have noticed it even took that long, though.

Noble set the Trojans of Thornton Academy down in order in the first inning of Windham’s game first since May 8. After that, she allowed just three hits as the Eagles beat the Trojans, 6-0, to improve to 6-3 for the season.

“I was trying to keep them off balance and not let them know what’s coming pretty much,” said Noble, a junior. “I’m not a power pitcher. I never have been. I just focus more on where they’re standing in the batter’s box and I pitch it to the opposite (side).”

Noble used a curveball, a dropball and a perfectly-placed fastball to induce popouts (six), groundouts (eight) and the occasional strikeout (she finished with five of those).

“It seemed like we were kind of defense up there swinging as opposed to going after the ball and trying to hit it hard. She did a very nice job,” said Thornton coach Jack Morrison. “Lazy groundballs and lazy fly balls it’s easy to make those kinds of plays.”

The Windham offense got all it needed in the bottom of the first inning when Cailtin O’Brien scored on a passed ball after reaching on a fielder’s choice.

The Trojans threatened in the top of the second inning, but Noble squelched the scoring chance by inducing a groundout. Kayla Nielsen was stranded at second after she singled and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Thornton starter Emma Vaillancourt.

Noble stranded two more Thornton runners in the top of the third. She got the first two batters before allowing a bunt single to Thornton leadoff hitter Rianne Braley. Emma Morrison followed with a single that moved Braley to third. The next batter, Danielle Dyer, lined weakly to second base.

“I wasn’t sure how it was going to go,” said Noble. “I’ve thrown a little bit, but it doesn’t quite compare to throwing in a game, so I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to go.

“I just had to get used to the feeling of being out there again.”

Noble didn’t allow another base runner until the top of the fifth, and by that point the Eagles had expanded their lead to four runs. They built the cushion on the bottom of the fourth inning.

Second baseman Taylor Graves led things off with a grounder to second that got past the glove of Shannon Provost. Ashley Corkum followed with a grounder to third. Alyssa Rondo fielded the ball cleanly and tried to get the lead runner at second, but the throw wasn’t in time, so everyone was safe. Amanda Evans bunted her way on to load the bases.

Joanna Clark then came through with a bloop single that scored Graves. Noble drew a walk to score Corkum, and Amanda Kirby hit a sacrifice fly that plated Evans.

“That one error hurt them and then a couple of hits, and we put a couple of bunts down and it worked,” said Windham coach Bob Blanchard.

The Eagles stranded three runners on base, but they had all they needed.

In the bottom of the fifth, Corkum laid down a squeeze bunt that scored Graves to make it 5-0. The sixth run came in the sixth inning when Graves hit an RBI single that brought home Darcey Webster.

The Eagles will try to keep the momentum going when the play today (Friday) and then again tomorrow.

“It’s going to be crazy,” said Noble, when asked about all the makeup games. “But we have practice tomorrow, so we’re just going to keep on going.”

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