NORTH ANSON — The Carrabec softball team opened and ended its game against Oak Hill with a bang Wednesday.

But in between the first and final innings, Oak Hill sophomore Sadie Waterman pitched well and her teammates took advantage of several errors en route to a 6-4 victory. Oak Hill is 2-0 in Mountain Valley Conference play while Carrabec falls to 1-3.

Carrabec junior Bailey Dunphy led off the game with a towering home run over the center field fence, the first of her career. Waterman then pitched around two more hits in the inning, keeping the Carrabec bats from producing any more runs.

“Bailey Dunphy’s home run could have shaken us,” Waterman said. “But I think we did really well coming back from that. The same thing at the end. They got a lot of runs in but all of us just know how to handle that and we work really well together.”

The Raiders took the lead for good with three runs in the top of the second, an inning in which the Cobras committed two errors. They would commit eight in all.

“We only have two players that are back that had a position last year,” said Carrabec coach Craig Knight, who started five freshmen. “It’s frustrating. We’ve got to do a better job at taking care of those little things.”

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The Raiders took advantage of their opportunities and bunted effectively. Hannah Nadeau’s sacrifice bunt attempt in the second inning fell for a hit and led to a big rally, and her bunt in the third forced a Cobra error and led to another run. Waterman cruised through the middle innings and escaped trouble in the fifth and sixth.

“One bad pitch and that was it,” Oak Hill coach Allyson Collins said. “We were able to hold Dunphy to single bases after that and that was our goal, so we’ll take it.”

Carrabec starter Samantha LeBeau allowed six hits and struck out seven but also walked four and was victimized by errors. The Raiders scored single unearned runs in the fourth and fifth. The Cobras and LeBeau escaped jams in the sixth and seventh innings while making some good defensive plays. Shortstop Lexie Cowan speared Julia Noel’s line drive to leave the bases loaded. And in the seventh, Baker caught Charlotte Waterman’s liner to third and doubled a runner off first for a double play.

“There’s no quit in these kids,” Knight said.

The Cobras scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh when the Raiders committed two errors and Waterman issued a walk. Cowan had the big hit in the inning, a two-run single up the middle. Waterman got out of the inning and the game with a strikeout and a fly ball to center.

“We only have three seniors,” Waterman said, “but we all work well together for being young.”


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