HAMPDEN – It took the Hampden Academy Broncos three innings to get their bats going and then the floodgates opened.
Everyone in the Broncos lineup had at least one hit as they pounded out 17 hits, including 15 over the final three innings, to beat Mt. Ararat of Topsham 15-4 in a mutual season-opener at the Hampden Academy field on Tuesday afternoon.
The game was called in the sixth inning due to the 10-run mercy rule.
It was the debut of Hampden Academy head coach Deb Colpitts.
“One of our biggest goals this season is to make good contact. We’re not looking for anyone to kill the ball. We just want to get people on base and earn the runs,” said Hampden Academy senior third baseman Meghan Delahanty, who paced the attack with a solo homer and two singles. She had two runs batted in.
“We have been working on our swings this week. Our team goal was to make solid contact and they achieved that today,” said Colpitts.
Sophomore pitcher Cat Facchini went the distance for the win, tossing a three-hitter.
She struck out 15 over six innings and walked four, all in Mt. Ararat’s three-run third-inning rally. She hit two batters and threw 70 strikes among her 119 pitches.
“She threw very well,” said Mt. Ararat head coach Terri Tlumac.
“My curveball was doing well the first few innings and my rise ball was really effective,” said the hard-throwing Facchini. “But after that I was just mainly focusing on hitting corners with some fastballs and I threw a couple screwballs in there as well.”
Mt. Ararat answered Delahanty’s homer to left in the second inning with three runs in the third on four walks, Lexie Dupre’s bloop single to right and Paige Bell’s two-out, two-run line drive double to deep right center field.
But the Broncos took the lead for good with four runs in the fourth inning.
Kiera Gabric sliced a shallow opposite-field triple to right and she came all the way around to score on an outfield throwing error.
Facchini rifled a double to left center and scored on Delahanty’s single to left center.
Mariah Coon dropped a soft single into center field and Charlie Tardif’s single off pitcher Lily Stewart’s glove loaded the bases before Charlee Chute’s single to right center drove in the third and fourth runs of the inning.
Lala Adams singled home a run for Mt. Ararat in the fifth to cut the lead to one but the Broncos erupted for three in the fifth and seven in the sixth to end it.
Coon singled home a run in the fifth and Piper Parker hit a sacrifice fly.
In the sixth, Facchini doubled in a run, Piper Parker and Laurali Parker each had RBI singles and Aubrey Shaw had a two-run single.
Tardif had a double and two singles; Coon had three singles; Facchini doubled twice and Gabric doubled and singled for the Broncos.
Mt. Ararat turned in two defensive gems as left fielder Brianna Meeks made a terrific running backhanded stab off Shaw down the left field line in the fourth inning after center fielder Dupre had made a nice running catch on Chute’s shallow fly in the third.
Stewart and Khloe Rhoades pitched for Mt. Ararat.
Hampden Academy will visit Brunswick on Friday for a noon game and Mt. Ararat entertains Mt. Blue of Farmington on Thursday at 2 p.m. in its home opener.