YORK — Every game, the York High softball players gather beforehand to discuss their goals.
With a one-loss Freeport team coming in Monday afternoon, the goals were pretty clear-cut.
“We were talking about how it’s like a playoff game, and how this is like a must-win game for us,” senior McKayla Kortes said. “Not really the ‘lose and go home’ mentality, but the ‘must-need’ game.
“We knew coming in that we needed to win this game if we wanted a shot at the No. 1 seed. We knew that they’re good, we knew what we had to do and we knew we had to get it done.”
The Wildcats aced their biggest test of the season. Kortes took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before finishing with 10 strikeouts to lead York to a 10-0, six-inning victory over Freeport in a Class B South showdown.
The Wildcats improved to 12-0, with 10 victories by double figures. Freeport fell to 11-2.
“Our confidence was really high today,” said right fielder Nya Avery, who scored twice and drove in two runs. “We knew that winning this game would boost us in the standings. … In the circle, we talked about how we should treat this like a playoff game. We’ll probably see them in the playoffs, they’re a really good team, and we should play with that mentality.”
After a 10-0 start, Freeport has dropped two of three. Coach Chris St. Pierre said he felt his players would be able to put the loss behind themselves quickly.
“I don’t think it’s going to affect our confidence at all,” he said. “This team still has the mindset that they can and have the ability to win any game. We came in here thinking today we were going to win. That’s just how we go into every game.”
The Falcons responded to their first loss to North Yarmouth Academy by scoring 17 runs in a win over Yarmouth, but their offense was silent against Kortes, who walked five but whose only hit allowed was a Rosie Panenka single up the middle in the sixth.
“We were looking forward to (playing),” York Coach Kevin Giannino said. “Mac had her game face on from the beginning. She has the ability to turn it on, and I could tell … she was ready to go.”
Kortes had been pitching below her standard, but said a visit the day before to Scarborough pitching coach Doug Williams straightened her out.
“It was one of those ‘I need to see you’ (appointments),” she said. “It helped reel things in. I kind of got back on track. … A lot of it was confidence. I just didn’t really have confidence in myself before this game.”
York gave her a 1-0 lead in the first when Avery walked, then scored on Sarah Orso’s fielder’s choice. In the third, Ella Hickey and Hannah Cleary led off with a single and double, respectively, and an Avery single, Maddie Fitzgerald sacrifice fly and error brought in three runs for a 4-0 advantage.
Orso, Emily Estes and Bella Santini led off the fifth with consecutive singles, and a Hickey hit by pitch and Clary sacrifice fly scored Estes and Santini. Orso, Hickey and Avery added RBI singles in the sixth.
“It was important,” Giannino said. “The girls were ready. We thought it was a good test, and it’s certainly a game that will catapult you into the tournament.”
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