READFIELD — A tough season-opening loss earlier in the week left the Maranacook/Winthrop softball team hungry entering the weekend.

That hunger was satisfied in a big way Friday — a way that can be a springboard for what the Black Bears hope will be a successful co-op season.

Maranacook/Winthrop claimed a 9-7 victory over Madison in a Mountain Valley Conference showdown Friday at Maranacook High School. The win saw the Black Bears bounce back from a 20-16 season-opening loss to Telstar on Tuesday.

“We really wanted this win,” said Maranacook/Winthrop’s Ella Rice, who was 2 for 3 with two runs scored. “It felt really good.”

Paige Magee and Charlotte Tyler also had two hits each for Maranacook/Winthrop, which totaled 10 hits as a team. Kenadi Berry, Ella Haynie and Marina Gilman knocked two apiece for Madison, which had nine.

Hits by Ashleigh Padelford and Hope Nadeau highlighted a breakthrough first inning for Madison (0-1), which took advantage of two walks and a Maranacook/Winthrop error to take a 3-0 lead. The Black Bears answered with a run in the bottom of the inning, but the Bulldogs scored again in the second to go up 4-1.

Maranacook/Winthrop, though, responded with its own big inning in the bottom of the third. With runners on first and second, Tyler hit a two-RBI double to cut the deficit to a run. Next, a double by Harper Fyfe and a single by Magee gave the Black Bears (1-1) their first lead of the game at 5-4.

Madison retook the lead in the top of the fifth as three hits and a Maranacook/Winthrop error resulted in the Bulldogs plating a pair of runs. But the Black Bears tied it right back up in the bottom of the frame as Fyfe reached on an error, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a Magee sac bunt.

Maranacook/Winthrop used three errors and three base hits to plate three runs in the bottom of the sixth, taking its largest lead of the game. Madison got a run back in the top of the seventh but could not produce any more .

“They had a double play, and one of our teammates was down about it, but we picked it up, and (Charlotte’s double) really picked up the team,” Rice said. “That helped us play as a team and get hyped for each other.”

Camdyn Roy was the winning pitcher for Maranacook/Winthrop. Kylee Furbush took the loss for Madison despite six strikeouts.

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