WINDHAM — Hitting. Pitching. Defense. All three are integral parts of winning a softball game. That fact was proven once again in an SMAA softball game between Biddeford and Windham on Monday. Both teams had trouble hitting, but had pitchers who were, for the most part, spot on. It was defense, however, that decided the outcome, as the Tigers played sure-handed defense while capitalizing on the Eagles’ mistakes in a 7-3 win at Windham High School.

The game began as a pitchers’ duel between Windham (3-4) senior Katelyn Tucker and Biddeford (5-2) sophomore Kirsten Lebreux, who combined to allow just two baserunners while striking out seven batters through the first two innings. Tucker’s lone blemish came via a wild-pitch third strike that gave her the rare four-strikeout inning in the second.

But the Tigers finally got to her in the third, which is also when the Windham defense began to fail Tucker. Dalani Roy led off with a hard double to deep right-center. Cassie Ellis followed by dropping down a routine bunt, but the throw to first by third baseman Anita Mooradian was off-target, allowing Roy to score the game’s first run.

Tucker got out of the inning with a strikeout and a double play off a liner to Mooradian.

Tucker lost her touch a little to start the fourth, as the Biddeford hitters started to show some patience. Abbie Paquette led off by drawing a walk, and Tucker followed that up by hitting Alex Quigley with a pitch. Lebreux then dropped a bunt down that Tucker couldn’t relay cleanly to first, and Paquette came around to score. After a strikeout, Tucker gave up a bloop single to Bri Collard that was misplayed in left, bringing home two more runs. After another strikeout, the Windham defense sandwiched two dropped pop-ups at the edge of the infield around a double and a walk to put Biddeford up 7-0.

“She made some good pitches on us ”¦ and we couldn’t put the bat on the ball in the first inning or two,” said Biddeford head coach Leon Paquin. “Then, we finally got a couple bunts down, and they didn’t quite do their job on that, and then sprinkle in a hit, sprinkle in a walk, and next thing you know, they’re on their heels.”

“It’s us being aggressive, and I think the momentum, we really kind of turned it our way,” said Roy. “We went with it, we stayed head on the ball, and everyone was into the game.”

That was all the run support Lebreux needed ”“ and a little bit extra ”“ as she gave up just two hits through the first five innings. The Eagles plated three runs in the sixth, thanks to two walks and two hits, but Lebreux struck out a season-high 12 batters over seven innings to dig her way out of jams.

“She was huge for us today on the mound,” Roy said of Lebreux. “We always want to play good defense behind her, but she really had a good game.”

In total, Windham committed five errors ”“ leading to five unearned runs against Tucker ”“ while Lebreux’s defense was rock solid.

“We always practice looking the ball into the glove, and that’s always a big thing for our team, being strong defensively,” said Roy. “Coach always tells us that wins games. So that was definitely a huge” asset.

“When we play good defense, we’re not bad. We’re very competitive. And we had a couple games recently where we struggled a little bit defensively,” said Paquin. “We played solid D, and we came out on top.”

— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.