BIDDEFORD – With playoff softball approaching, top-ranked Scarborough High showed tournament-ready traits in Tuesday’s 9-5 win at Biddeford.

Scarborough (14-1) finishes its regular season Wednesday at home against Westbrook for a chance to wrap up the No. 1 seed for the Western Class A playoffs.

Additional Photos

Biddeford catcher Katie Plante can only wait for a throw as Scarborough’s Mary Redmond scores during a six-run fourth inning Tuesday. Redmond had walked earlier in the inning. Photos by Carl D. Walsh/Staff Photographer

Erin Giles of Scarborough throws a pitch in Tuesday’s softball game at Biddeford. The Red Storm won, 9-5.

Biddeford ended its regular-season at 10-6. Coach Leon Paquin expects the Tigers to finish seventh or eighth and host a preliminary-round game next Tuesday.

The Red Storm started fast, jumping on Biddeford for three runs in the top of the first. Alyssa Williamson’s ringing RBI double to score Grace Farnkoff was the loudest blow and Scarborough also showed adept base-running with a double steal and patience at the plate, drawing two walks.

“It’s important for us to start games well. It’s getting close to the playoffs and we want to be peaking and gaining momentum right away in games,” said Farnkoff, who had three hits.

Scarborough also showed it could get production throughout its lineup — and turn quality at-bats from the bottom of the order into a big inning.

In the fourth inning, Scarborough scored six runs, starting the inning by loading the bases on walks by Sophia Burnham, Mary Redmond and leadoff batter Marisa O’Toole. Then the rally went into overdrive when Farnkoff slapped a two-run single to right, Williamson (2 for 4, 4 RBI) followed with another two-run single, Erin Giles banged a double off Biddeford third baseman Charlotte White’s glove and Megan Murrell (2 for 4) singled home Giles.

“We definitely need the bats going all the way through the lineup for the playoffs,” Farnkoff said. “We have a strong lineup and it’s important for us to take advantage of that.”

Then there was Scarborough’s defense, which did not make an error and kept the Tigers in check as they racked up 10 hits. In the seventh inning, O’Toole turned a 4-3 double play by charging Alyssa Baldino’s grounder, tagging Abbie Paquette and easily throwing out Baldino. Then freshman third baseman Maggie Murphy showed veteran savvy to quickly cut in front of shortstop Farnkoff to grab a bouncer and gun down White for the final out.

“Definitely it was a really good game,” Giles said. “With (Biddeford) putting it in play, it helped our fielders. We had to make a lot of plays and it just showed that we can handle that.”

“The kids have really jelled together as a team,” Scarborough Coach Tom Griffin said. “Not just physically on the field but emotionally off of the field.”

Biddeford was coming off a lackluster 8-1 loss to Bonny Eagle on Monday. Paquin said he told his team that “today was the day after and I wanted to see how they’d respond.”

The Tigers did immediately after both Scarborough uprisings.

In the bottom of the first, Paquette turned on a 3-2 pitch from Giles and drove a two-run homer over the fence in left.

“That changed the whole complexion and put us right back in it,” Paquin said.

After Scarborough’s six-run fourth, Biddeford got three runs back. White singled and hustled to second to beat a forceout on Alex Quigley’s grounder, putting two runners on. Giles got the next two batters but seniors Mariah Albert (RBI bunt single) and Katelyn Lebreux (two-run double) produced to cut the lead to 9-5.

Both pitchers quieted the offenses the rest of the way.

“Abbie worked hard. She fought hard for seven innings, to her credit,” Paquin said.

Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or at:

scraig@mainetoday.com

Twitter: SteveCCraig

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