CAPE ELIZABETH — It may have been the 2015 season opener but the way 2014 ended was still on the collective mind of the Yarmouth High softball team when it returned Thursday to Cape Elizabeth.
This was where the Clippers lost a five-run lead in the bottom of the seventh inning of a 9-8 loss in last season’s Western Class B semifinals. The last four runs came on two-out homers.
This time the Clippers scored big in the seventh, sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring seven times in an 11-4 victory.
“Last year, that really hurt us and I think we really wanted this win,” Yarmouth starter Cat Thompson said. “We decided to come back and show them we’re better than we were last year, and that we’re ready to play.”
Yarmouth had 13 hits. Some were boomed, like Kallie Hutchinson’s triple and the first of Michelle Robichaud’s three doubles. Others were bunts and some were wind-blown flies that fell in. Add in five errors and Yarmouth put lots of pressure on an inexperienced defense.
Thompson kept Cape in check on two hits and one run through five innings. She gave way to Mari Cooper with two outs in the sixth, the bases loaded and Yarmouth leading 4-2.
Cape tied it when Thompson, now at third, overthrew first on a grounder, and two runs scored.
Cooper struck out the next batter with two runners on.
“We knew we had gone cold for a couple innings and that wasn’t acceptable in our minds,” Yarmouth Coach Amy McMullin said. “In the last inning we just said we have to score as many as we can and get a buffer.”
Robichaud drew a leadoff walk against Cape starter Lily Jordan, who had retired seven of the previous eight batters after falling behind 4-0.
“I get really nervous and I swing at those high balls when I know I shouldn’t, so my whole goal that time was just to not freak out and get on base any way possible,” Robichaud said.
Yarmouth went to its small-ball game. Cooper’s sacrifice turned into a single when no Cape player covered first. With the runners advanced to second and third, Thompson got the go-ahead run home on a hard misplayed grounder to third.
Another bunt reloaded the bases and after one force at home, Eleanor O’Gorman, Cate Ralph, Andrea St. Pierre and Robichaud followed with RBI hits.
Cape Elizabeth, which went 31-1 in regular-season games the past two seasons, made five errors and generated only four hits. Tess Haller (2 for 3, 2 runs), Hannah Saturley and Megan Nicholson had RBI singles.
Capers assistant coach B.J. Nicholson said the shaky play could partly be attributed to limited practices on a full field and that some key players are on a school trip.
“With the winter we’ve had and the lack of practice time, it makes it really difficult to get the kids to the point where they understand their roles in some situations,” Nicholson said.
“And Yarmouth, they put a lot of pressure on a defense anyway. They put the ball in play. They’re very good at baserunning. They always play us tough.”
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