BRUNSWICK

Hugh Dwyer’s Brunswick High School softball team has heard from supporters about the improvement that his team has displayed over the past couple seasons. Dwyer admits his team feels it too, senses it in the efforts on the field, but a win is what will make those beliefs and outside praises mean the most.

On Friday against “Battle of the Bridge” rival Mt. Ararat, the Dragons came all so close to ending their long losing skid, but the Eagles came through for a 5- 3 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference win, sending Brunswick to 0-2 on the young season.

“I use the analogy of a horse race, where a horse falls over in one race and the next day is stride for stride,” said Dwyer. “For them to experience this improvement is a big plus. We ran into some outs, but I told the girls that is what we are going to do. We have an athletic team. They competed today. We have to compete. We know we can play the game and defend, but sometimes just don’t know how to compete.”

“They are a good team and they are going to win some games. It is just a matter of time,” said Mt. Ararat coach Brooke Cox of the Dragons.

There were certainly encouraging signs for both teams. Mt. Ararat hit the ball hard, pounding out seven hits, including three singles from Sara Lamb. Mikaila Cloutier’s two-run bases-loaded double in the fourth turned a 1-0 Eagles lead into 3-0.

For Brunswick, pitcher Hannah Escoe rebounded from a tough season-opening performance against Mt. Blue. She struck out three and walked seven, but was able to pitch out of trouble, including twice when the Eagles loaded the bases.

“Hannah Escoe pitched so well after the first game with her control,” said Dwyer, who also praised Sabrina Armstrong, whose run-scoring double put the Dragons on the board in the fourth inning. “She is just 14, so when you coach her and tell her how good she is, she doesn’t believe it. She has been taking half swings, so today I told her I wanted to see a full swing.”

Key turning point

Both Mt. Ararat pitcher Rhiannon Hersey and Escoe were on through two innings. The game entered the third frame scoreless.

The Eagles broke the ice in the top of the third as Lamb led off with a single and moved to second on an error. Two outs later, Alana Weaver drove a pitch to right field for an RBI double.

Brunswick used a single by Escoe and a pair of walks to load the bases with two outs in its half of the third, but Hersey pitched out of trouble to keep her team in a 1-0 lead.

Mt. Ararat found its stroke in the fourth. Kate Guerin and Kayleigh Temple walked, and Lamb singled to load the bases with one out. Two pitches later, Cloutier turned on an Escoe offering, sending a line shot to the fence in left field for a two big runs.

“It was a good pitch and I didn’t think it was going to travel that far,” said Cloutier.

A sacrifice flyball by Sam Gonyea upped Mt. Ararat’s lead to 4-0. The Eagles loaded the bases later in the frame, but Escoe escaped further damage to keep her Dragons in it.

“It is frustrating at times, getting a little bit anxious at the plate,” said Cox after her Eagles left nine runners on base. “We have been hitting, but sometimes it just doesn’t come. Mikaila’s hit was huge. We needed those runs.”

Brunswick answered Mt. Ararat’s fourth inning threespot with one of its own. Emily Girardin worked a lead-off walk and Armstrong laced a double to left field to get the Dragons on the board. The freshman, who moved from just outside of San Francisco to Maine recently, has been trying to find her swing.

“This season my hitting has been sub-par, so it felt great to make solid connection with the ball,” said Armstrong. “We didn’t play great our first game, but for this game we came out and worked hard together. It was a close game. We are sad that we lost, but we are also proud of ourselves.”

After Alyssa Dunton was hit by a Hersey pitch, Armstrong scampered home with Brunswick’s second run, and pinch runner Alicia Armstrong came home on a groundball by Brooke Barter to get the Dragons to 4-3.

Brunswick, which visits Oxford Hills today at 4 p.m., had a golden chance to tie the game in the sixth, but Temple threw out two Dragons trying to steal to keep the Eagles in the lead.

Mt. Ararat picked up an insurance run in the seventh, with Lamb delivering a two-out single with the bases full of Eagles. In the Brunswick seventh, a double play and a strikeout completed the Eagles’ 5-3 win.

Ashley Howe was 2-for-3 at the plate for Brunswick, while Katelyn Cox was 2-for- 4 for the Eagles, who host Messalonskee today at 4 p.m.

Mt. Ararat 5,
Brunswick 3

Friday at Brunswick
Mt. Ararat — 001 300 1 — 5-7-1
Brunswick — 000 300 0 — 3-5-2
Rhiannon Hersey and Kayleigh Temple; Hannah Escoe and Gianna
Gaudet.
Doubles — (MtA) Alana Weaver,
Mikaila Cloutier; (B) Sabrina Armstrong. Repeat hitters — (MtA) Sara Lamb
(3), Katelyn Cox; (B) Ashley Howe.
Records — Mt. Ararat 2-0,
Brunswick 0-2.
Up next for the Eagles — Today at
home against Messalonskee, 4 p.m.
Up next for the Dragons — Today at
Oxford Hills, 4 p.m.