Old Orchard Beach senior Morgan Howlett-Brown fires a pitch as second baseman Emily Greenlee gets ready during Friday’s game. PAT McDONALD/Journal Tribune
OLD ORCHARD BEACH — The York High School softball team entered the 2018 season as one of the favorites in Class B South — and a big reason for those lofty expectations was sophomore pitcher Abby Orso.
Orso started the season with three straight shutouts and 41 strikeouts in the circle. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the standout would break her left arm in the final inning of a 2-0 win over Cape Elizabeth on May 2 and York’s hopes of a deep playoff run vanished quickly.
The Wildcats dropped their next eight games after the Orso injury, but they traveled to Old Orchard Beach on Friday looking to snap the losing streak and give freshman pitcher Colleen Daly her first win in the process.
“We’ve had some real issues with our pitching. Our ace pitcher is hurt, she’s out for the year. She broke her arm and she was off to a great start,” said York coach Kevin Giannino. “We’ve been forced to go to our backup, who is only a freshman, and (she) seems to be getting better from game to game — this was probably her best game.”
Old Orchard Beach senior McKenzie Belanger is all smiles as she is greeted by her teammates at home plate after hitting a two-run home run on Friday. PAT McDONALD/Journal Tribune
Daly’s best game, which included three strikeouts, would help the Wildcats get back in the win column as they picked up an 11-9 win over the host Seagulls on Friday.
York used hits from Kiley Blondin, Hannah Gennaro, Abigail Kavanagh and Margaret Bachelder to put up three runs in the top of the first inning.
OOB would answer as Meghan Pelletier singled and scored when McKenzie Belanger smashed a two-run homer to left to cut the York lead to 3-2.
The Wildcats came right back with three runs in the top of the second to make it 6-2, but OOB responded in the bottom half when Emily Greenlee, Kelly Palkovic and Chloe Kocian produced three straight singles. Greenlee would score on Kocian’s hit to make it 6-3.
York continued to put pressure on the Lady Gulls with two more runs in the top of the third, and Daly would shut the OOB offense down in the bottom half to make it 8-3.
The York lead would expand to 10-3 with two more in the fourth, but this time OOB answered with three runs thanks to a pair of errors and an RBI single from Belanger.
OOB pitcher Morgan Howlett-Brown would settle down in the fifth and sixth innings as she held the Wildcats scoreless.
The Lady Gulls cut into York’s lead with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Belanger continued her impressive performance with an RBI triple and
Howlett-Brown helped herself with an RBI single to make it 10-8.
York was able to add an insurance run in the top of the seventh, but the game would come down to Daly’s ability to slow down the OOB offense.
York freshman Colleen Daly fires a pitch against Old Orchard Beach on Friday. PAT McDONALD/Journal Tribune
Daly got the first out in the seventh, but back-to-back singles from Palkovic and Kocian would put runners on first and second. The second out would come on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Myah Hebert which erased the lead runner at third.
Pelletier forced a walk to load the bases and Zoe Young earned an easy RBI with a walk to force in a run and make it 11-9.
Daly was able to settle down and induced a groundout off the bat of the red-hot Belanger to end the game.
“I was really impressed with Old Orchard. They just really hit the ball nice … they score runs, they hit the ball. I heard that they had been down the last couple years so I thought this might be an opportunity for us to sneak a win in, but they gave us all we could handle,” said Giannino. “It was a good game. We made some nice plays in the last inning. They left the bases loaded and a base hit right there and we’re into extra innings. It was just a strong game.”
OOB coach Jason Webber was happy with his team’s effort.
“They battled and they’ve been battling all season long,” said Webber. “I mean errors have been hurting us and it seems we have two or three of those big innings where we give up those errors, but then we play clean and we battle back. That’s one thing I can say is our girls never give up and they battle every game.”
Webber knew the Wildcats were going to come in and put up some runs.
“I knew they were going to swing the bats. Everybody in our league can swing the bat and I think we do too. A lot of the games that I see from across the state it’s about defense. You’ve got to make the plays on the field,” said Webber.
OOB is now just 2-10 on the season but the Lady Gulls are still in the hunt for the 10th and final playoff spot in Class C South.
“We’ve got to steal one from Traip and we’ve got to steal one from Sacopee,” Webber said. “We’re right on that bubble, around that 11 spot, so we’re the odd man out at this point but what’s nice about it is I feel that it’s in our hands. We’ve got to go out, win one and see where the chips fall.”
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.
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