OAKLAND — Based on the law of averages, it was Messalonskee’s turn to lose.

Entering their game with Oxford Hills, the Eagles played four games decided by a run and won them all. Messalonskee finally saw the other side on Wednesday, dropping a tough 3-2 decision in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A softball game.

That game, and Erskine’s victory over Brewer, shuffled the first-round playoff pairings in Eastern A. Messalonskee (13-3) held the No. 2 seed, but Oxford Hills (11-5) jumped from seventh to fifth, and Skowhegan went from fourth to sixth.

Like many of Messalonskee’s games this season, it could have gone either way. The Eagles out-hit Oxford Hills, 8-6, but the Vikings got four of those hits in the fourth inning, when they scored all three of their runs. Messalonskee also made several baserunning mistakes.

“I don’t like to use the term, ‘We didn’t bring our A game’,” Messalonskee coach Leo Bouchard said. “We didn’t play our A game. There’s a difference.

“I don’t know what it was today — they just didn’t seem to have a fire lit under them. We missed signs at the plate, over-ran bases, swinging at bad pitches. We just didn’t play well. We didn’t play like a No. 2 team in Eastern Maine.”

Both Messalonskee pitcher Kassi Michaud and Oxford Hills pitcher Crystal West had to work out of trouble in almost every inning. The Vikings left the bases loaded in the first inning, and the Eagles got a run in the third on Kylee Knight’s RBI single before leaving the bases loaded themselves.

Michaud got through the third inning in just seven pitches, but Oxford Hills was much more patient in the fourth. The first four batters all worked the count to 3-2, and the Vikings got a walk and two singles out of those payoff pitches. The second single was a two-run job to right-center field by Angel Witham, giving Oxford Hills a 2-1 lead.

The Vikings made a baserunning mistake of their own in the inning, but made it 3-1 when catcher Annika Kahkonen singled home Anna Winslow. Messalonskee threatened in every inning the rest of the way.

In the fourth, the ball got away from Kahkonen, but she retrieved it and dashed back to the plate to tag Necole Harrison trying to score from third. In the fifth, doubles by Phoebe Pelletier (3 for 4) and Bri Garland got the Eagles within 3-2, but Oxford Hills third baseman Jordyn Sanborn fielded a dribbler and got Emily York on a bang-bang play at first to end the inning.

The Eagles got a leadoff single in the sixth, but lost that runner on a bunt popout double play. Michaud singled to lead off the seventh, but never advanced past first.

“I just knew that I had to relax, and pitch the way I usually do,” West said. “The umpire was calling really outside pitches, so location was key.”

Weather permitting, Messalonskee has one or two games on either Friday or Saturday in the KVAC playoffs. The real playoffs begin June 5, and Messalonskee will host Brewer in the quarterfinals.

“We don’t play until next Thursday,” Bouchard said. “That’s a long time between games, but we do have some things to work on. We are prepping for the next season and we know, one loss, we go home. So we’re going to have to play hard.”

Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243

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