BANGOR, Maine — Last month the Bangor High School softball team had to rally for two seventh-inning runs to force extra innings before beating Mt . Blue of Farmington 8-6 in nine innings in their Class A North regular season game.
But the Rams didn’t need a dramatic comeback on Tuesday.
The Rams scored four first-inning runs, three after two were out, and senior pitcher Lane Barron scattered five hits as Bangor triumphed 10-0 in a preliminary round playoff game.
The game was stopped in the bottom of the sixth due to the 10-run rule.
Bangor, the fifth seed, improved to 11-6 and will now take on No. 4 Hampden Academy, 13-3, in a quarterfinal round game in Hampden on Thursday or Friday.
Hampden Academy won both regular season meetings.
Mt. Blue of Farmington, the 12th seed, wound up 1-16.
Barron struck out seven, walked two and hit a batter over six innings.
“Lane wasn’t at her best, but she pitched well enough to keep them from scoring,” said Bangor coach Maureen Barron, Lane’s mother.
“We did what we needed to get done to get to the next round,” said Lane Barron.
Bangor collected 10 hits and was led by junior center fielder Taylor Coombs, who had a double and two singles and drove in three runs.
“I’ve been working a lot with my coaches to figure out some of the things I was struggling with early in the season,” said Coombs. “It’s all timing. Timing my load and my stride.”
Lane Barron aided her cause with two singles and two RBIs.
“We had much better discipline at the plate today,” said Maureen Barron. “We’ve been working on staying back and driving the ball.”
Sadie Irish had two singles for Mt. Blue.
Pivotal play: The Rams used infield hits by Emmie Streams and Casey Carter and Rae Barron’s bloop single down the right field line to take a 1-0 lead without an out being registered in the first inning.
But two popups left runners on second and third with two outs when Lane Barron hit a high popup between the mound and the plate.
Several Mt. Blue players had a chance to catch it for the final out, but it dropped for a single and a run scored.
With the inning extended, Coombs followed with a two-run infield single off the shortstop’s glove.
Takeaway: Bangor was aggressive on the basepaths and played solid defense behind Lane Barron. Even though they didn’t hit many balls hard, they put the ball in play. The Rams will have to continue to find ways to put the ball in play and may even consider bunting when they face Hampden Academy ace Danielle Masterson, who has completely dominated them this season.
Masterson allowed one run in the two games and struck out 19 Rams in a 2-0 win.
The Rams swung at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone against her.
