HAMPDEN, Maine — Mikelle Verrill may be a freshman but she pitched like a veteran on Saturday.
The Hermon High School lefty tossed a three-hit shutout and held Lawrence to a 1-for-10 showing with runners on base as the second-seeded Hawks advanced to the Class B North championship game with a 3-0 win over the No. 3 Bulldogs from Fairfield.
Hermon, now 15-3, will face the winner of the Nokomis-Old Town game in the B North title game on Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Coffin Field in Brewer. Third seed Lawrence wound up 13-5.
Verrill struck out five, walked two and hit two batters while throwing 96 pitches, 63 for strikes.
Her teammates backed her up with an impressive defensive performance, making just one error and turning two double plays.
“Everything was working today, including my fielders,” said Verrill, who added that she was “very happy” with her outing.
When she got in trouble, she said she just “threw to the glove and called it good.”
She got a grounder back to herself with a runner on second and two outs in the third and struck out a hitter with runners on first and second and two outs in the fifth.
“They got the timely hits and we didn’t,” said Lawrence coach Joey Mercier. “We had baserunners but we couldn’t get them across the plate.”
“She had some spins. We timed her up but they had really good fielders,” said Lawrence catcher Jade Sullivan.
Hermon coach Steph Biberstein said his team loves to play defense.
“It’s nice when they put the ball in play and we have the opportunity to show we’re a pretty talented defensive team,” Biberstein added. “They did a good job.”
Biberstein added that Verrill did a nice job getting out of jams.
“It’s nice she has confidence in the defense behind her. She’s not looking to strike people out. She tries to keep them off-balance so we can field the ball and make plays.”
The Hawks gave her the only run she needed in the first inning when Norra Idano drew a lead-off walk and scored on Addy Waning’s long double over the left fielder’s head with two outs.
“The pitch was inside and I decided to get it early and not let it play me. It felt super good,” Waning said.
Hermon made it 2-0 in the fifth when Verrill ripped an opposite-field double to left center and pinch-runner Makena Nevells went to third on a passed ball and then scored on pinch-hitter Delaney Carr’s grounder back to pitcher Jazmin Johnson.
Nevells held up briefly and then sprinted to the plate on the throw to first.
Hermon added an insurance run in the sixth on Olivia Johnston’s triple to right center field and Lyndsee Reed’s grounder to short, on which an error was made.
Braelyn Wilcox had a triple for the winners.
Kaylee Elkins’ long two-out double in the third, Ruby Pierce’s ground ball single to right center and Rylee Veilleux’s line drive single off first baseman Idano’s glove were Lawrence’s only hits.
After Veilleux singled to lead off the seventh, Idano made a nice catch on Pierce’s line drive and dove to tag the first base bag to complete the double play.
Second baseman Johnston turned a nifty double play in the second. She snared Sage Reed’s hard-hit grounder, tagged the baserunner going to second and threw to first.
