AUGUSTA — After Cony committed 12 errors in an opening-day loss to Oxford Hills, a lot of people wrote off the Rams as contenders in Eastern A softball.
Now, it’s safe to say Cony is back.
The Rams have won five in a row — the longest current winning streak in Eastern A — and their latest victim was Skowhegan. Cony scored 10 runs in the bottom of the first inning and went on to a 12-4 victory on Monday afternoon at Cony Family Field.
“We really wanted to win today, just to prove that we are a threat (in) Eastern A,” Cony third baseman Sydney Cheever said. “We’ve really been working hard in practice to become better every day.”
Skowhegan (6-2) went down in order in the top of the first against Cony pitcher Arika Brochu. In the bottom of the inning, the Rams (6-2) tested the Indians defense by bunting. Haley Ward bunted for a single, Skyler Watson got to second when the Indians threw away her sacrifice bunt, and Brochu bunted home a run when Ward beat the throw to the plate.
Having pecked away at Skowhegan’s defense, the Rams switched to the hammer in the form of Cheever. She belted a 3-2 pitch over the fence in left field for a three-run homer and a 4-0 lead. It was Cheever’s fourth home run of the season.
“I wanted to give her as many pitches as possible, just to get the one that I wanted,” Cheever said. “I got her up to a full count. Then once I got that outside (pitch) I had to go with it.”
The bases were empty, so Cony simply started over. Autumn Sudsbury and Cari Hopkins singled, and Kasidy Turgeon bunted a run home. Jamie Davis cracked a two-run single to center field. That made it 7-0, and four batters later, Cheever barely missed a home run, settling for a three-run double to make it 10-0.
“I liked today’s at bats, especially the first inning,” Cony coach Rocky Gaslin said. “We were patient at the plate. We were able to lay bunts down. We were also able to knock the runs in.”
“Bottom line, we just didn’t play very well in the first inning,” Skowhegan coach Lee Johnson said. “We didn’t minimize the damage. You’re not going to recover after you get down 10-0. After that, I thought we played pretty good ball.”
To Skowhegan’s credit, the Indians hung in and played well the rest of the game. They scored some runs on Cony errors, and on an RBI groundout by Lindsey Warren. Kylie Hawkins pitched the last five innings, and allowed two runs on four hits. Catcher Julia Steeves moved to shortstop and made a great diving catch to rob Cheever of another RBI (Cheever had to settle for 27 RBIs through eight games).
Still, Cony’s most anxious moment after the first inning came when Brochu ripped a liner past third base with Turgeon leading off third. Turgeon ducked out of the way, but looked like someone whose heart had skipped a beat.
Skowhegan will look to get going again with games this week against Hampden and Brunswick. The Indians, who normally start four freshmen, lost 15-1 to Bangor on Friday before falling to Cony.
“I still think it’s a learning process for the inexperienced group that we have,” Johnson said. “We knew there was going to be times where we showed our inexperience. I think the last two games showed that. We know we’ve got work to do. We understood that. We’re still pretty happy where we’re at, but we know we’ve got to regroup after these two games, for sure.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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