WATERVILLE — It looked like a beautiful afternoon at Waterville Senior High School. Then you saw the wind blow pop-ups and papers in every direction.
The softball game played Wednesday took the opposite path. What looked like a brutally sloppy struggle for two innings suddenly morphed into an extremely well-played game, especially for a season opener. The stars were the pitchers: Camden Hills’ Hannah Corney and Waterville’s Jasmine Durant — and Corney and the Windjammers squeaked out a 3-2 victory.
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“I can’t believe it,” Camden Hills coach Marty Messer said. “I don’t know how many errors we had, maybe just one. With the wind and everything, and being on a new field, we had some excellent plays defensively.”
“I thought they did very well,” Waterville’s Meaghan Donnell said of her players. “They did awesome.”
Donnell was making her debut as Waterville’s coach after the Purple Panthers finished 6-11 last season. Camden Hills, meanwhile, was 7-10 last spring, and both teams had their “moments” in the first two innings.
But from the start, Durant was solid in her first varsity game. Camden Hills loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the first, but Durant limited the damage to one run. In the second, the Windjammers scored on a two-out double, and a misplayed fly ball, but a relay from Waterville center fielder Ariel Roy to Durant to catcher Kaitlyn Spalding got Bekah Hilt out at the plate to end the inning.
Durant allowed only one hit over the final five innings. She also got defensive help from Waterville’s infield of third baseman Michaela DeVogt, shortstop Fotini Shanos, second baseman Jenna Gagnon, and first baseman Lindsey St. Claire.
“Jasmine did awesome,” Donnell said. “Her change-up was right on. She worked those corners as much as possible, and she got right ahead (in the count).”
Jenna Gagnon scored Waterville’s first run in the bottom of the first when she singled, went to second on DeVogt’s bunt, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on a passed ball. In the fourth, Nicole Martin tripled to right field and went home on Durant’s groundout.
But like Durant, Corney was stingy after the first two innings. Of the last 18 batters she faced, Martin was the only one to reach base. Waterville made progress at the plate — soft grounders to second base in the first few innings became hard groundouts to short in the second half of the game — but Camden Hills didn’t make an error after the first inning.
“This is the first year that I’ve really been the main pitcher,” said Corney, a junior at Camden Hills. “So I was just trying to focus and just trying to throw strikes. I have a really good team behind me, so I just wanted to do that for them, and then they would field for me.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
mdifilippo@centralmaine.com
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