FREEPORT

The final score of Wednesday’s chilly Western Maine Conference high school softball game goes into the record books — Cape Elizabeth 13, Freeport 4.

But in sports, there is often more to the story than just a score.

Down 11-2 after three innings, the Falcons seemed on the verge of a mercy rule loss, the third of the young season for Freeport (1-5). Instead, the Falcons hung around, playing error-free defense, receiving solid pitching from Brianna Bellefleur and making the Capers play seven innings. Over the final four frames, the score was 2-2.

“We are playing good, and today I really amped it up, wanting them to be serious,” said Freeport coach Jason Daniel. “We have good chemistry and work well together. It is just a matter of finishing.

We held them pretty good. We had a good game against Falmouth (a 4-1 loss). Today, we allowed six runs in the first inning. Maybe some nerves, but they hung in there.”

Cape Elizabeth (5-2) had the jump early. Kelly O’Sullivan and Megan Nicholson reached on infield singles to open the game, and after a fielder’s choice, a walk to Jess Robicheau loaded the bases with one out. Another fielder’s choice on a close play at home plate gave the Capers a 1-0 lead, and a walk to Anna Toccer and a two-run single from Sam Feenstra upped the advantage to 4-0. A third fielder’s choice scored the fifth run before a wild pitch plated Feenstra.

In all, 11 Capers came to the plate in that first frame.

Freeport showed some life in the bottom of the first. Eb Wiest walked and Alexa Koenig singled to put runners at the corners. Wiest and Koenig pulled off a double steal to get the Falcons on the board. Morgan Karnes walked and Bailey Karnes stroked a seeing-eye single to left field to get Freeport to 6-2.

However, over the next four innings, Capers pitcher Maddie Bauman used her off-speed pitch to keep Freeport at bay.

“We played Kennebunk yesterday (a 9-0 loss on Tuesday) and we struggled with the slow pitches,” said Bailey Karnes. “We just need to wait on it and adjust. It is hard to do that at times.”

“We don’t hit the slow ball good at all,” added Daniel.

Capers slugger Tess Haller showed her power to open the second, driving a Bellefleur pitch to the gap in left-center field for a lead-off triple. She trotted home on a groundball by Robicheau. Grace Carrigan and Alison Ingalls added an RBI single each to make for a 9-2 contest.

Two more Cape Elizabeth runs scored in the third — a

Cape Elizabeth 13, Freeport 4

At Freeport

Cape	—	632	010	1	—	13-	14-0
Freeport		— 200	002	0	—	4-	5-2

Maddie Bauman and Megan Nicholson; Brianna Bellefleur and Callie Toothaker. Double — (CE) Sam Feenstra. Triple — (CE) Tess Haller. Repeat hitters — (CE) Sam Feenstra (4), Tess Haller, Jess Robicheau, Anna Toccer; (F) Bailey Karnes. Records — Cape Elizabeth 5-2, Freeport 1-5. Up next for the Falcons — Saturday at Old Orchard Beach, doubleheader, 3 p.m.

two-run single by Feenstra — made for an 11-2 Capers advantage.

Things turn around

From there, Freeport refused to go away. Bellefleur retired Cape 1-2-3 in the fourth and sixth innings. Feenstra, who was 4-for-5 with two runs scored and a game-high five RBIs, brought home the 12th Capers run in the fifth.

Freeport had one more push left. Morgan Karnes walked for the second time, and Bailey Karnes and Megan Cormier followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases. Morgan Karnes and Cormier scored in the frame before Cape Elizabeth tacked on a run in the seventh on a Carrigan grounder, scoring Robicheau, who was 2-for-4 with a walk.

“It took us a while to get the momentum going, but after that third inning we picked it up. We look to carry that into our next games (doubleheader Saturday at Old Orchard Beach, beginning at 3 p.m.),” said Bailey Karnes, who was 2- for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

Haller was 2-for-5 with four runs scored for Cape Elizabeth, while Toccer singled twice and walked twice.

Bellefleur finished with three strikeouts, seven walks and 14 hits allowed. Bauman earned the mound win, going the distance on two strikeouts and four walks.