CUMBERLAND — Kelsey Currier raced home from second base with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday to lift Greely to a 2-1 victory against Fryeburg Academy in a season-opening Western Maine Conference softball game.

Currier started the rally when her fly to right fell just inside the foul line for a double. She then scored when a fly to right by Kayley Cimino, the next batter, was mishandled.

“We blinked,” Fryeburg Coach Fred Apt said. “All it took was one mistake.”

The mistakes were few by both teams.

“It was a pretty clean game,” Greely Coach Rob Hale said. “We played them last year in the season opener and they went up on us 10-0 and we beat them 15-14 or something. It was ugly. They hit the first pitch out of the park.”

This time both pitchers did enough to win.

Currier, a sophomore making her second varsity start, limited the Raiders to three hits. She struck out seven and walked six.

Nicole Bennett, a junior who did most of the pitching for Fryeburg’s tourney team last season, allowed four hits. She struck out seven and walked none.

“She pitched well enough to win and until the last inning, we played defense well enough,” said Apt, who has guided the Raiders to three Class B state championships in the past 15 years. “We just didn’t hit the ball. We scored one run and we’ve got to score more than that.”

Hale also was unhappy with his team’s offense.

“We’re a better hitting team than that,” he said, “but (Bennett) went outside on us and we didn’t make adjustments. She has some experience and (Apt) knows what he’s doing.”

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

Lexi Faietta, a speedy shortstop, led off with an infield hit, moved to second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored when Evan Carrell lined a two-out single to center.

After threatening to score in the third and fifth innings, Fryeburg finally broke through in the sixth.

With two outs, Tina LeBlanc walked and stole second. She scored on Lexi L’Heureux-Carland’s opposite-field double deep into the gap in left.

The Raiders had runners in scoring position in four innings, but Currier managed to get of out of jams in three of them.

“One good thing about her is she competes,” Hale said. “If she gives up a hit, she forgets about it. She has a very short memory and that’s rare for a young lady.”

In the third, Currier, who saw some playing time in the outfield last spring, assisted on all three putouts.

With runners on first and second, she dived to snare Bennett’s hard-hit grounder up the middle and threw to first for the inning-ending out while on both knees.

“I work on (my fielding) to do the best I can for my team,” she said.

Despite the outcome, Apt remained optimistic about his team.

“It was a good opening game but it was a tough one to lose,” he said. “It was the best game we’ve played this spring (including exhibitions) so I’m happy with that. (Greely) is a good team and if our hitting comes around, we’ll be fine.”

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