YARMOUTH — Sometimes in sports you just have to tip your cap to your opponent in a losing effort, knowing that the opponent was better on that day. That was all Wells softball coach Kevin Fox said he could do Friday, as his Warriors lost to Yarmouth 10-4 in a WMC contest at Michael Brown Field.

“I said pre-game, ”˜we have nothing to lose. They’re the team that’s supposed to win, we’re the team that’s supposed to lose, so you just go out and give it your hardest,’” said Fox. “They were clearly the better team today, so hats off to them.”

Wells (4-7) may be the defending Western Maine Class B champion, but that was a different team and a different year. This season, Yarmouth (8-2) has proven itself as one of the teams to beat in the WMC, thanks to a high-scoring offense.

Those bats didn’t disappoint Friday, as the Clippers topped their season average for runs per game (9.6). And it started right off the bat.

Andrea St. Pierre led off the bottom of the first with a double and scored four batters later ”“ along with Mari Cooper, who walked ”“ on a two-run single from Eleanor O’Gorman.

The Warriors, who went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first against Cooper, battled back with a two-run frame of their own in the top of the second. Sara Ring led off by beating out a slow dribbler down the first-base line, even reaching after being tripped by O’Gorman trying to field the ball.

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“That girl knows nothing but everything she’s got. She’ll run into fences,” Fox said of Ring, who was lifted for a courtesy runner but returned in the bottom of the inning. “She personifies what we want to do ”“ giving it 100 percent all the time.”

Aliah Clay scored in Ring’s place after moving around the bases on a pair of grounders and a dropped liner by third baseman Catherine Thompson. Olivia Clay scored two batters later on a double by Casi Haye.

Yarmouth took the lead again in the bottom of the second, as Sydney St. Pierre led off with a walk and scored two batters later on a sacrifice grounder.

Cooper shut Wells down in the third and fourth, retiring all six batters across the two frames, and in between she was one of three Clippers to score in the bottom of the third.

“We knew we had to try and keep it tight, and if we could we might have a shot at it,” said Fox. “They just started hitting the ball, and we didn’t. They made great plays. That’s a good team.”

Yarmouth scored again in the fourth, and again it came as the result of the leadoff batter reaching base. Colleen Sullivan hit a low liner that rolled all the way to the outfield fence, then scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-2.

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The Clippers put the leadoff batter on in each of the first five innings, and scored every time.

“We haven’t done a good job at that, actually, all year,” Yarmouth head coach Amy Ashley said of getting the leadoff batter on. “It’s extremely important to us. It just gives you so many options.”

Wells tried to claw back in the fifth, and was able to plate one run, but that was it. Ally O’Brien reached on an error to lead off, but was thrown out at home three batters later while trying to score on a wild pitch. The Warriors got one run across immediately after as Ali Duplisea drove in Maddie Taylor with a single to left.

Yarmouth responded with three more in the bottom half of the fifth. Duplisea came on in relief of Lexy Haye, but the results were still the same, as Thompson led off with a double, followed by a walk and another double by Cate Ralph, which scored two runs. Ralph later scored on an RBI groundout.

“We just know that we’re going to give up runs, unfortunately, so we have to score more. So all season long we’ve just been focusing on offense,” said Ashley.

Ring scored the Warriors’ final run in the top of the sixth, as Wells kept plugging away. She glanced a one-out single off Cooper’s leg, moved to second on a wild pitch, to third on a single by Lexy Haye, then scored on a double steal.

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“They never give up,” said Fox. “It’s something to build on. We’re a young team, this is a strong league. We worked hard to be competitive and sometimes the score gets away from us. But it’s not from a lack of effort.”

Wells was able to produce eight hits off Cooper, including six in the final three innings. But it wasn’t enough to combat Yarmouth’s 10 hits off Wells pitching, which failed to record a strikeout against the Clippers.

“The one thing you want to build a program around is heart, and these girls have heart,” said Fox. “They’re giving me all they got, and that’s what I said post-game, I said ”˜that’s all I can ask for.’”

—Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.



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