OAKLAND — His players looked at the ground, but Messalonskee coach Leo Bouchard just shook his head with a wistful smile. Bouchard has seen enough softball to know that when the game’s gods are against you, that’s all you can do.
With the score tied, the bases loaded, and one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Messalonskee’s Nikki Collier smoked a line drive — right at Brewer third baseman Cassie Harvey, who turned it into an inning-ending double play. In the top of the eighth, Brewer’s Deaven Smith hit a two-run homer, and the seventh-seeded Witches advanced with a 3-1 victory in Wednesday’s Eastern A softball quarterfinal.
Neither Messalonskee pitcher Kassi Michaud nor Brewer ace Alexa Grindle racked up very many strikeouts, but combined, they allowed five hits over the first six innings.
Second-seeded Messalonskee (13-4) went up 1-0 in the bottom of the second when Courtney Veilleux singled, stole second, went to third on an error, and came home on Necole Harrison’s single up the middle. Brewer tied it in the fifth when Grindle doubled for the Witches’ first hit, and courtesy runner Sydney Birch scored on a sacrifice fly just ahead of Veilleux’s strong throw from center field.
Kylee Knight led off the Messalonskee seventh with a single, but was gunned down trying to steal second by catcher Sarah Babin. Emily York followed with a double, and Veilleux followed with a bunt single. When everyone was safe on Harrison’s bouncer back to Grindle, the Eagles had the bases loaded with one out.
Collier went after the first pitch, and drilled it, but Harvey speared it and tagged York to end the inning.
“Yorky was just dead,” Bouchard said. “There was nothing she could do about it. It was just bad luck. Nikki crushed it. She turned on it. She crushed the ball right at her. That really turned momentum the other way. It was a heart-breaker.”
“I just saw her tag the runner after she caught it, and I was like, ‘Wow,’ ” Grindle said.
Brewer (11-6) got a one-out single from Kelly Hatt in the top of the eighth. Smith then fouled off three pitched before lining one over the left-center field fence for a two-run blast and her first home run of the season.
“Finally, she threw a perfect strike, and I just got a good grip on it,” Smith said. “I could tell by the height and the way the outfielders were running, so I figured it was going over.”
Messalonskee went down in order in the bottom of the eighth. The Eagles reached the state final last year, but also had no seniors this spring and lost ace pitcher Kai Smith for essentially the entire season to injury and illness.
“We came into this season with some expectations. We set some goals,” Bouchard said. “Finishing 13-3 and second in the Heals was not one of them. We went above and beyond what we expected to win.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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