SCARBOROUGH – Not playing for 13 days can make a team a little stale. So it wasn’t surprising that Scarborough High’s top-ranked softball team needed a couple of innings to shake off the rust.

Once the Red Storm got untracked, they showed why they are still undefeated.

Scarborough got timely hitting, steady defense and its usual strong pitching to defeat No. 8 Biddeford 5-0 in a Western Class A quarterfinal Thursday.

“We’ve all been here before so it’s not like we were nervous or anything,” said senior Mo Hannan. “We just wanted to dominate the game. We didn’t have to have the run rule to win. We just wanted to win.”

Scarborough (17-0) will be home against Kennebunk at 11 a.m. Saturday in the semifinals.

Hannan, who missed a good chunk of the season with mononucleosis, played a huge role, relieving starter Erin Giles to snuff Biddeford’s final rally.

Advertisement

The Tigers (9-9) hung tough behind pitcher Abbie Paquette and shortstop Katelyn Lebreux, who made several strong plays.

Biddeford loaded the bases twice but failed to score. The first time came in the third inning with Scarborough ahead 1-0. Giles got out of it with a strikeout.

Then, with Scarborough leading 4-0 in the sixth, the Tigers loaded the bases with one out on singles by Lebreux and Paquette, and a walk. Red Storm Coach Tom Griffin brought in Hannan.

She got out of the jam with an infield pop-up and strikeout, then set the Tigers down in order in the seventh.

“It’s nice to feel like myself again,” said Hannan.

With more big games looming, Griffin said it was nice to see the old Hannan back.

Advertisement

“That’s probably the best I’ve seen her all year,” he said. “She’s finally got her legs back. She’s working really hard. She’s thrown every day for the last two or three weeks. Every time she gets out there, we’ve seen a little more of her. Today was the first time I saw her and said, ‘That’s Mo Hannan.’ That’s what we’ve been waiting for.”

Scarborough took a 1-0 lead in the first with an unearned run. It stayed that way until the fourth. Megan Murrell led off with a double and Dominique Burnham followed with a walk. After a sacrifice by Brenna Kent, Grace Farnkoff dropped an RBI single to left.

Then Mary Redmond, sitting on a two-ball count, lashed a line drive to the gap in right-center, scoring two runs to make it 4-0.

“I knew the pitcher had to pitch a strike,” said Redmond. “I just hit it right.”

The Red Storm added a run in the sixth on Marisa O’Toole’s triple.

“We had some chances,” said Tigers Coach Leon Paquin. “We competed, we played hard. It wasn’t a perfect game, we made a couple of mistakes and a team like that, they’re going to score. But the heart was there, the effort was there.”

Advertisement

But it was Scarborough moving on.

“It was a good first game to work things out,” said Giles, who struck out seven. “A good team effort. But it always is with our team.”

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:

mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.