SCARBOROUGH — Scarborough’s softball team is well-known for its ability to pummel the ball, but Wednesday afternoon at the Kippy Mitchell Sports Complex, the Red Storm only produced a couple of loud hits, so they turned to their affinity for small ball and superb defense, as well as a solid start from Bella Dickinson, to hand Noble its first loss.
The Red Storm scored two first inning runs when the Knights couldn’t produce a simple force out, added two more in the fourth, then put it away in the sixth, when Dickinson clubbed a two-run home run as they went on to a 6-0 victory.
Scarborough improved to 6-0 on the season and extended its regular season win streak to 79 games in the process.
“I’m pleased with how we did today,” said Red Storm Coach Tom Griffin. “When you have a good pitcher like that, we talk about putting the ball in play and good things will happen. They made a few mistakes to help us out.”
After Dickinson set the Knights down in order in the top of the first, Laura Powell drew a one-out walk off Noble starter Raegan Kelly in the bottom half and Chloe Griffin followed with a ground ball to short, but Powell beat the throw to second. Hunter Greenleaf then lined an RBI single. Courtney Brouchu followed with a ground ball to short, but courtesy runner Hannah Gower again beat the throw, as Griffin raced home from second on the play for a 2-0 lead.
Noble had a chance to answer in the second, putting runners on first and second with one out and Emily Sanfacon lined an apparent single to rightfield, but Griffin raced in and threw the runner out at first base, a rarely seen 9-3 put-out. 
“I have all the trust in the world in my defense,” Dickinson said. “That was a huge play. That was a momentum-setter.” 
The Knights eventually loaded the bases, but Dickinson struck out Abbie Sprague for the third out.
In the bottom of the fourth, Sam Carriero was hit on the foot by a pitch leading off, but she shook it off and stole second, moved up to third on a wild pitch, then scored easily on a triple to right-center off the bat of Lindsey Kelley. Three batters later, Dickinson ground a single to left to score Kelley for a 4-0 lead.
Dickinson ended all doubt with two down in the bottom of the sixth, ripping a home run the other way, to right-center, to score herself and Felicia O’Reilly for a 6-0 advantage.
“It was just good timing,” Dickinson said. “I was just watching it. It felt good to see it clear the fence.”
Dickinson (two walks, nine strikeouts) then finished off her four-hitter in the seventh, fanning Sanfacon and Abby Lewis to end it. Dickinson also paced the offense with two hits, a run scored and three RBI. 
“Bella did a great job,” Griffin said. “I wanted to give her an opportunity to see what she can do in a pressure situation. She passed the test.” 
Kelly took the loss for Noble (4-1), giving up six runs on seven hits and two walks. She struck out four. First baseman Jordan Boucher had two hits.
“Right now, they’re better than us, but we know what we need to do,” said Noble Coach Rick Melanson. “We want to make it a goal to be as good as Scarborough, if not better, by the end of the year.”