MADISON — It didn’t play like the closely contested, clinical game expected between two of the top teams in Class C South. Madison and Carrabec combined for 14 runs, 19 hits and seven errors in a wild game featuring nearly as many stolen bases as earned runs.

But for all its collective shortcomings, the Bulldogs’ 9-5 win over their crosstown rivals proved a wildly entertaining Mountain Valley Conference softball game Friday at Campbell Field.

Madison scored six runs in a big first inning and held Carrabec at bay the rest of the way, as the Bulldogs remained undefeated behind sophomore Lauria LeBlanc — who struck out 11 Cobras and surrendered just one unearned run to anchor her team (6-0).

Senior shortstop Annie Worthen was 2 for 4 in the win with an RBI and two runs scored, including one on a delayed steal of home for a key insurance run in the sixth inning.

Carrabec (5-2) tried to battle back despite a big deficit, but the Cobras never got any closer than 6-4 after senior pitcher Samantha LeBeau helped her own cause with a three-run double in the fifth.

“After playing Lisbon and Madison, we realize that there are other good teams out there,” LeBeau said. “We definitely need to play better if we want to compete with them.”

“Our kids fought like crazy. It was a great softball team we were playing,” Carrabec coach Heath Cowan said. “We could have hung our heads and lost 20-0 (after the first inning), but we fought back and gave ourselves a chance to win in the end.”

TURNING POINT: With a five-run lead in the fifth, Madison head coach Chris LeBlanc opted to walk the bases loaded with only one out by issuing Carrabec leadoff slugger Bailey Dunphy an intentional walk. LeBeau responded by driving a bases-clearing triple to the left field corner that made it a two-run game.

“Historically, Dunphy has always had a lot of success against us,” LeBlanc said. “If I was going to challenge one, I wanted to see (LeBeau). Now, the next time we play them, I might not do that.”

Lauria LeBlanc barely blinked in the circle, however, getting the next two batters in rapid succession and allowing Madison to tack on insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

“Lauria definitely means business,” Worthen said. “She’s got it, and we believe in her.”

FAST START: A multi-year starter for Carrabec, LeBeau hasn’t suffered many innings like the one Madison had in the first.

The Bulldogs batted around, pounding out seven hits — most all of them square off the barrel of the bat — en route to six runs. No. 9 hitter Emily Edgerly (2 for 2) had a two-run single to cap the inning, while Whitney Bess, Worthen, LeBlanc and Marah Hall all poked RBI hits.

“It shows that we’re strong and we’re ready to play if we’re focused,” Worthen said. “We knew we were going to have competition today, so we had to play a good game.”

“The intensity was good,” Chris LeBlanc said. “That was huge. That set the tone.”

A botched call at first base on the first hit of the game for Madison and two Carrabec errors in the frame didn’t help matters. Only two of the six runs were earned off LeBeau in the inning.

“I think we’re not used to having teams that put the ball in play as much as they did,” LeBeau said, who admitted she might not have been fully warmed up for the first inning. “After that, we kind of woke up and stepped up our game.”

“We left the ball over the plate a little bit and trying to find where that spot needed to be, and they hit a few balls where we weren’t,” Cowan said. “We helped them out, too, feeling a little bit down, kicking a few balls.”

UP NEXT: Madison travels to one-win Dirigo on Monday, while Carrabec hosts Hall-Dale the same day.

Travis Barrett — 621-5621

tbarrett@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TBarrettGWC