AUGUSTA — At this point in the season, every team in Class A North knows it has to be careful when pitching to Bangor senior Emily Gilmore.

Tuesday afternoon, Cony pitcher Skyler Watson had little choice as she faced Gilmore once with runners on first and second and later with the bases loaded. Both times, Gilmore made her pay — the first time with a three-run homer high over the left field fence and later with a two-run double.

“We weren’t supposed to throw her a strike but we did,” said Cony coach Rocky Gaslin following his team’s 8-3 loss to Bangor.

Cony, coming off a big win Monday against Lewiston, fell to 9-3, while Bangor, coming off an extra inning loss to Skowhegan, improved to 8-4.

Watson caught Gilmore looking at a third strike to open the game, sticking to Gaslin’s plan. But after getting two quick outs in the second, Lindy Bezgembruk-Mena doubled to right field and No. 9 hitter Kathryn Sund drew a walk. Gilmore took the first pitch she saw high over the fence in left-center to give her team a 4-0 lead. It was the sixth home run of the season for the second baseman, who last summer committed to play next year for the University of Maine.

“It was just a low ball so I had to drop the barrel and elevate it to square it up,” Gilmore said.

The pitch, in many respects, was part of Cony’s game plan.

“We got her the first time, that’s what we wanted to do, keep it down, off-speed pitches and keep it away from her,” Gaslin said. “But she’s a real good hitter. If you make a mistake she’ll make you pay and she made us pay today.”

Cony managed just three hits off Bangor pitcher Sarah Bragg but still had some good scoring chances. In the second inning, Kasidy Turgeon and Allee Cloutier drew walks. Turgeon tried to score on a base hit to left by Cari Hopkins but was gunned down at home on a nice throw from Madison Drake.

Cony did score three runs in the third on a couple of Bangor errors and Turgeon’s RBI double, but Bragg got Alexis Couverette to ground out to end the inning.

“We were fortunate that they hit the ball right at us in a few key spots,” Bangor coach Don Stanhope said. “We had some chances to maybe unravel after a good hit that they had but they stuck with it mentally, which is a huge thing for us.”

Cony stayed close thanks to a couple of nice plays in center field from sophomore Haley Ward. She robbed Drake of extra bases with a fine running catch to end the second inning and doubled Megan Conner off first base when she caught Emma Payne’s fly ball in the fifth.

Bragg cruised through four innings, allowing just one base-runner. The senior struck out four and walked three.

“I just try to throw them off with maybe a changeup or a spin pitch,” Bragg said. “It’s good for us. We lost a few games and it was good to get our confidence back.”

Bangor broke the game open in the sixth, again beginning with the bottom of the order. Page Cadrette and Bezgembruk-Mena reached base around Drake’s fielder’s choice to load the bases for Gilmore, who drilled the first pitch she saw to the fence in right-center for two runs.

“They flipped over the lineup twice in two very big innings,” Stanhope said. “We got some good hits . . . where they couldn’t really walk Emily They got her to a spot where they had to pitch to her.”

Connor singled to make it 7-3 and Payne drove in the final run with a ground ball.