KENNEBUNK — The visiting Yarmouth softball team grinded out a 7-4 win over Kennebunk on Wednesday afternoon.

Tied at 4-4 in the fourth inning, Yarmouth would get the go-ahead run on an RBI single by Sydney St. Pierre, and later add two runs in the seventh on RBI’s from Cate Ralph and Ceanne Lyon to secure the win.

The Clippers had a solid outing at the dish, picking up nine hits on the afternoon. Yarmouth also made the most of its opportunities, capitalizing on three Kennebunk errors.

Kennebunk coach Kortney Nedeau felt that Yarmouth’s hot bats and the Rams’ untimely errors were the issue for her club.

“It was a mix of the two — this is the most evenly matched team athletically and strategically that we’ve faced all year aside from Wells. We’ve done a nice job taking care of the ball and up to date have only committed 21 errors as a team before this game,” said Nedeau. “The biggest thing I drive in these kids is, ‘take care of the ball,’ once the play is over throw it away. Settle and reset — that’s the only way to move forward and I think today they let the ball play them instead of playing the ball.”

Kennebunk would quickly take a 1-0 lead on a leadoff homerun by Britney Gregoire in the first inning. However, Yarmouth managed to tack on four runs in the top half of the third, two coming from errors. Ralph would register an RBI single while Tasha Powers hit an RBI double to give Yarmouth the 4-1 lead.

The Rams answered back in the bottom half of the inning, picking up three runs to even the score at 4-4. Lindsey Gregoire and Allie Gregoire hit back to back RBI singles while Lydia Howarth added another run on a sacrifice groundout.

Although Kennebunk put up a solid day at the plate, the Clippers managed to have just a few more moments that were the difference.

“(Yarmouth is) going to put the ball in play and they’re going to hit in hard, it’s how the dust settles after a good hit … we by no means handed it to them, they earned it, but at the same time things could have been eliminated,” said Nedeau. “I tell the kids that the amount of errors you make is the amount of runs you’ll lose by … today we made three errors and we lost by three runs.”

Howarth took the circle for the Rams, pitching five innings and collected three strikeouts.

Despite the loss, Kennebunk still maintains a solid 9-6 record and a spot in the playoff picture. After a four-win season in 2016, Nedeau has been pleased with the progress of the program with the postseason around the corner.

“We have Allie Gregoire who’s our lone senior, but then we have six juniors that are mentally tough and athletic, very versatile,” said Nedeau. We have a nice stack of freshman, it’s a difference make when you have a solid nine.” 

— Associate Sports Editor Alex Sponseller can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.