SOUTH PORTLAND – The South Portland High School softball team is on a mission to defend its Class A state championship and so far this season, they have been just about perfect.

The Riots (5-0), who have yet to surrender a run this season, continued their winning streak with a 12-0 win over Windham at home on Monday, a game that was ended in the sixth inning due to the 12-run mercy rule.

Erin Bogdanovich led the way for South Portland, throwing six shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out nine. She also led with the bat, stroking two triples, scoring four runs and knocking in two. Danielle DiBiase had a pair of singles, scoring twice and adding an RBI while Amanda Linscott added three hits, scoring once and driving in a run as well.

South Portland Head Coach Ralph Aceto said while his team’s offensive output has been impressive, with the Riots outscoring their opponents 56-0 so far this spring, he is equally impressed with how the team has been in the field.

“We just keep playing defense,” Aceto said. “We’re 5-0 and we haven’t let up a run yet. We have two pitchers whose ERA is zero (and) we’re hitting the ball.”

The Riots got off to a fast start in this one with DiBiase leading off with a single in the first inning. She didn’t stay on the basepaths for very long as Erin Bogdanovich followed her with a long RBI triple to right center, she would later score on a passed ball to make it 2-0.

Danica Gleason then walked and she came around to score on Alexis Bogdanovich’s RBI double.

From that point, it looked like the game could get out of hand, but Windham freshman pitcher Katelyn Tucker settled down and got the Eagles out of the inning with no further damage.

“That’s a good little pitcher (Windham’s got out there),” Aceto said of Tucker. “She did a good job today, the problem is that she’s facing probably the most veteran lineup in the state right now.”

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Riots picked up right where they left off in the second inning. After Tucker shook off a leadoff walk to Kelsey Morton, she retired the next two batters she faced before DiBiase knocked home Morton, who had stolen second base, with a single.

That seemed to open the floodgates once again and Erin Bogdanovich got her second consecutive RBI triple to score DiBiase and Gleason knocked her in with an RBI single and it was 6-0 after two.

The Riots got three more in the fourth as Stephanie McDonough, Erin Bogdanovich and Katlin Norton all scored to make it 9-0.

South Portland ended things in the sixth when Libby Grant knocked in Linscott with the Riots’ 12th run, invoking the mercy rule.

Windham Head Coach Mark Tucker gave South Portland credit for the win, adding that the Eagles need to avoid mistakes that give good teams like the Riots extra chances.

“They’re good,” he said. “We’re a young team, last year they scored 16 runs on us. We threw a freshman pitcher against the best hitting team in the league. You can’t continue to give good teams extra outs. They capitalized.”

Aceto said South Portland’s fast start against the Eagles is indicative of how his team has played all spring. “We’ve been fortunate in that we’ve gotten off early in every game and today again, we got off early,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier.”

It’s evident that the pressures of trying to repeat as state champions are not getting to the Riots. On the field, the team is a loose group that is clearly having fun during the games both in the field and on the bench. Aceto said the team knows when its time to have fun and when its time to get serious, and he attributes that to their experience. “It’s a veteran group, they know what they’re doing when they get on the field and they really enjoy being with each other, which is key,” he said.

While Aceto is enjoying his team’s perfect record, he knows there are some tough tests coming in the very near future as the Riots will take on league powerhouses Biddeford, Thornton Academy and Scarborough in the coming weeks. Those games will go a long way in seeing how the Riots succeed this season, he said.

“As long as we keep swinging the bats, we’ll see where it takes us,” Aceto said. “The tough road’s coming up in another week.”

South Portland’s Erin Bogdanovich strokes her second triple of the game against Windham on Monday. Bogdanovich had two hits and scored four times in the 12-0 win. (Staff photo by Mike Higgins)