RICHMOND

There isn’t an outfield fence at the Richmond High School softball field.

On one hand, it means no traditional, over- the-fence home runs. On the other hand, it means that triples are more likely — much more likely.

On Tuesday, the Bobcats sprayed five triples en route to a dominant, 14-2 mercy-rule East-West Conference win over Class D South rival Buckfield.

“ I tell the girls that when they get to second, they’ve got to be looking at me at third,” Richmond coach Tony Martin said. “Doesn’t matter where the ball is, when we hit it in the gap here, it’s extra bases.”

The Richmond ( 9- 0) onslaught began in the second inning when Autumn Acord earned a six-pitch walk that was followed up by a single from Mackenzie Abbott. On the play, an overthrown ball sent Acord around the bases to score.

The triple streak began a few batters later when third baseman Kelsea Anair smashed a two-run triple into the left-center field gap to bring in the fourth and fifth runs of the inning. After that, Sydney Tilton, Kalah Patterson and Caitlin Kendrick each tripled to make it four in a row. The first 10 batters of the inning all eventually scored for Richmond — all before the first out was recorded.

“The girls were on fire,” Martin said. “ They’ve been working hard at practice — do a lot of tee work, we get a lot of swings in during practice. The other day against Old Orchard (a 16-0 win on Monday), we started hitting the ball real well, and I was hoping it was just going to come into this game here, because this was a big game for us.”

“ We do it a lot during practice,” first baseman Cassidy Harriman said of her team’s hitting prowess. “It’s mainly what we focus on. We have people that have hitting coaches, so they help us a lot. We’re really close.”

Harriman was the only Bobcat to go a perfect 3- for-3 at the plate, hitting the game’s first triple in the bottom of the first inning. Tilton roped an inside-the-park home run after Harriman’s at-bat in the first, followed by a Patterson double. The Bobcats hit the ball all over the field on Tuesday, but after each knock, they flew out of the box and expected an extra base.

“ We don’t really even think,” Harriman said.” We just ‘run run run’ and we just listen to Tony (Martin). Whatever Tony tells us.”

“When they hit the ball, they hit the gaps,” Buckfield coach Sandy Albert said. “There’s no defensive way to play those, so when you don’t have a fence, you’re running.”

Bucks strike first

Buckfield ( 9- 3) took a one- run lead in the first inning when Kali Litchfield looped a double over the head of Anair at third base and later scored on a wild pitch. Litchfield was a bright spot in a Bucks offense that was otherwise shut down by Richmond starter Meranda Martin, going 3-for-3 with a pair of singles and a run scored from the leadoff spot.

Martin tossed just 59 pitches and struck out a pair in five full innings of work. She faced four or less batters in each inning.

“She works hard,” Tony Martin said of his starter. “ She’s got a lot of junk, and that keeps them off guard. She throws pretty quick, but she’s got other stuff that works, and that helps out with the pop-flys on their side. You throw them junk that ’ s what happens.”

Richmond tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth when Acord singled to start the frame. Camryn Hurley singled two batters later, and another overthrown ball in the infield brought Acord home. Harriman notched one of her two RBI singles in the two-hole to make the score 14- 1.

Buckfield narrowly got its second run across in the fifth inning, after Marie Robertson crossed the plate just ahead of the tag on Litchfield, who had singled but was thrown out at second base to end the game.

“We had a couple good hits — we hit them right to people,” Albert said. “They (Richmond) hit the ball really well today. It’s hard to play here at Richmond. It’s tough to play them here, so, I thought overall we did pretty well.”

With the win, Richmond surpasses Buckfield in the Class D South Heal Point Standings, moving into first place after playing three less games.

For Coach Martin and the Bobcats, Tuesday was about building momentum and preparing for what he expects to be an elevated level of pitching in the postseason.

“We’re hitting well and that ’ s something we’re going to have to keep working on,” he said. “ Towards the end of the year, we’re going to see some decent pitching and we’ve got to stay focused on seeing the ball and hitting it.”

“ It’s very important,” Harriman said of the win. “ We’ve been waiting for this game since we played them the first time. We did really well and I’m really proud of our team.”

Richmond 14, Buckfield 2

Tuesday at Richmond High School

Julia Dow, Abby Shields (2) and Hannah Shields; Meranda Martin and Sydney Tilton. Repeat Hitters — (B) Kali Litchfield; (R) Meranda Martin, Cassidy Harriman, Kelsea Anair, Sydney Tilton, Kalah Patterson, Autumn Acord. Doubles — (B) Kali Litchfield; (R) Kalah Patterson, Autumn Acord. Triples — (R) Cassidy Harriman, Kelsea Anair, Sydney Tilton, Kalah Patterson, Caitlin Kendrick. Home Run — (R) Sydney Tilton Records — Richmond 9-0, Buckfield 9-3. Up next for the Bobcats — Thursday at home against Rangeley Lakes, 4 p.m.