YARMOUTH — Sophie McGrath seems to have a knack for big hits.

Yarmouth’s junior center fielder hit a pair of home runs over the fence in left-center field to lead the Clippers to a 9-0 win over Traip Academy in a high school softball game Monday.

McGrath also had a pair of home runs in the Clippers’ 4-3 win over Gray-New Gloucester on May 8.

“I think today was one of our best games,” McGrath said. “We can still work on little things like base running, but I think we’re definitely improving all around as a team.”

Yarmouth Coach Amy Ashley was wary of Traip pitcher Reilly Eddy, who was coming off a 16-strikeout performance against Class D Richmond in a 2-1 loss on Thursday.

“We knew coming in that their pitcher was very talented, very strong, so we wanted to focus on just putting the ball in play,” Ashley said.

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The Clippers got their offense going in the first when Andrea St. Pierre was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by her twin, Sydney. McGrath followed with her first home run of the day to give Yarmouth a 2-0 lead.

It was all the support pitcher Ceanne Lyon would need. Traip had runners on second and third with one out in the top of the first, but Lyon worked out of the jam and got into a rhythm.

At one point, she retired 11 straight, including a stretch in the third and fourth innings when she induced five consecutive groundouts. Lyon wasn’t overpowering, striking out seven, but relied on Yarmouth’s dependable defense.

“She seemed to settle in, just worked the zone and relied on her defense a lot more,” said Ashley. “Sometimes as a pitcher you tend to want to do it all yourself, but our defense has done an excellent job this year. Once she realized she doesn’t have to strike them out, then she seemed to pitch a lot better.”

Yarmouth added a pair of insurance runs in the third. Cate Ralph hit an RBI double to right-center to score Cayte Tillotson, and scored on a squeeze bunt by Lyon to give the Clippers a 4-0 lead.

Tillotson added an RBI triple and McGrath hit a solo home run in the fourth.

In appreciation of her efforts on a cold, gloomy afternoon, McGrath’s teammates gave her a surprise shower after the game, dousing her with what remained in their water bottles.

Yarmouth has won six straight and improved to 9-1 heading into a matchup with Old Orchard Beach on Wednesday. Traip (5-7) plays York on Wednesday.


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