STANDISH — Laura Perreault’s bunt turned into an RBI double, snapped Windham’s 13-plus game scoreless streak, and provided all Biddeford High and fiery pitcher Charlotte Donovan needed for a 2-0 win in Tuesday’s Class A South regional final at Richard W. Bailey Field on the St. Joseph’s College campus.

With Donovan on second with a leadoff double in the fourth – the first runner to reach against standout Windham sophomore pitcher Brooke Gerry – Perreault bunted toward first base.

The ball, hit with force, went past a charging Ella Wilcox who was playing first. With Reilly Russell covering first from second base, the ball rolled all the way into the outfield. Donovan raced home and Perreault reached second, later scoring on a sacrifice fly by Baylor Wilkinson for a 2-0 lead.

“Before the inning, Coach told me, ‘If Charlotte gets on you have to get the bunt down, sacrifice yourself,’ ” Perreault said. “I was just trying to get it down the first base line. I didn’t expect it to go that far. I just kept on running.”

Windham had not allowed a run since losing to Biddeford, 2-0, on May 5, a scoreless streak that stretched to 81 innings after Gerry (four hits allowed, 12 strikeouts) retired Biddeford in order in the first three innings, with eight strikeouts.

Biddeford (17-2) will meet Messalonskee (9-11) in Saturday’s state championship game at Cony High in Augusta at 2 p.m. Messalonskee has won six straight, including playoff upsets against No. 1 Brunswick, No. 5 Bangor and No. 2 Skowhegan, 10-0, in the North final.

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Biddeford, which won Class A titles in 2006 and 2016, lost in last year’s final to Skowhegan.

“It’s hard to win one Southern Maine championship and everyone was gunning for us this year and to win two, it says a lot about these girls and how they compete,” said Biddeford Coach Mike Fecteau. “They play together and they just have fun with the game of softball.”

Over the past two seasons, Biddeford has been Windham’s kryptonite, beating the Eagles (16-3) four straight times, including last year’s 14-inning thriller in the regional semifinal.

“Every time we play these guys it’s always something. I don’t know what to call it but it’s not your usual hit the ball over the park, score a bunch of runs, it’s always something strange that happens,” said Windham Coach Fred Wilcox. “Charlotte really seems to step up her game against us a lot.”

“Every game with them has been a battle and that’s what you want to see, with your top performers performing,” Fecteau said. “And my top performer performed today. Charlotte with the bat and then she took over with the change-up in those middle innings. She’s just a competitor.”

Donovan scattered four hits and fanned nine. After working out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the third, she retired 12 of the final 14 Windham batters.

“I didn’t want to lose. I was ready to beat that team,” said Donovan, who had two of Biddeford’s four hits. “Yeah, I was excited. They’re a tough team so to beat them you have to be even tougher so I was just switching speeds, switching spins, keeping the ball low, hitting my spots and it worked.”

In the seventh Donovan was helped by a fine running catch in foul territory by right fielder Kerri Scott for the second out.

The Eagles were appearing in their first Class A regional final. Windham’s lone state title was 1995 in Class B.


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