GORHAM — Sanford’s early season gauntlet of a season continued Monday as the Spartans took on Gorham looking to keep their perfect record intact.

Much like they had in two of their three previous games, the Spartans (6-0) made it a nail-biter, and like those two other close calls they won.

Sanford twice let the Rams (2-3) close within one run, but starting pitcher Jen Jones and the Spartans shut the door as they held off Gorham for a 4-3 victory in an SMAA softball game at Robie Field.

“We battled through some rough times today,” said Sanford head coach Mike Bailey. “We had some adversity there and we stopped it, and we got outs when we needed to get outs.”

Jones was admittedly not at her best in the circle, but she was able to get strikeouts when she needed to. She got back-to-back punchouts to end the fourth inning after giving up her first two hits and first run of the game, which allowed the Rams to close within 2-1.

She got another strikeout to end the sixth after allowing three more hits and a pair of runs that cut the Spartans’ lead to 4-3. She then set down the final three batters in the bottom of the seventh to finish with 10 strikeouts on the day.

“When they got up, I knew I had to do something. And I wouldn’t have been able to pitch (like that) if I didn’t know my team was behind me and I was going to be able to throw where I needed to throw,” Jones said of the seventh inning. “It definitely wasn’t my best game. I’m lucky that that I had the team behind me that I did today, and they came back with the bats in the end.”

Pacing the Sanford offense was junior left fielder Jordan Wilson, who hit RBI doubles in both the third and fifth innings.

“She’s on fire right now,” Bailey said of Wilson. “It’s great to see, because she’s really doing a great job out of the No. 2 spot and picking up a lot of clutch hits.”

Gorham starter Julia Gaudette set down the first eight batters of the game ”“ and was outdueling Jones to that point ”“ before No. 9 hitter Isabelle Johnston stepped to the plate and hit a single to left in the third. Johnston moved to second on a wild pitch, then scored on Nicole Main’s RBI single. Wilson followed with the first of her run-scoring doubles.

Wilson came up clutch in the fifth, as she drove home Molly Boissonneault after Gorham reliever Grace McGouldrick struck out back-to-back batters.

Sanford plated another run in the top of the sixth, which proved to be the game-winner. Jones led off with a single off the throwing arm of McGouldrick, then moved to second on a Morgan Coleman bunt. Marli Wilson drove Jones home with a double to right-center.

Sanford has now won six straight to start the season, and has already equaled last year’s win total, when the Spartans missed out on the playoffs by one spot in the standings. The team is still young, with just one senior, but has so far been resistant to crumbling under pressure against some stout SMAA competition.

“I wouldn’t have predicted a 6-0 start,” said Bailey. “We’re growing as a team game by game. We’re just taking one game at a time; we don’t want to look ahead. I think that’s big for us as a young team. We just got to game by game go out and do our job.”

Sanford will look to keep its unbeaten start going when it hosts Bonny Eagle Wednesday.

— Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.