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DIXFIELD — Dirigo softball coach Scott Robbins knew his team still had difficult opponents remaining as the regular season neared an end with the Cougars still undefeated.
He saw that first-hand on Wednesday, as Monmouth Academy visited Sally Clark Field and dealt Dirigo its first loss, winning 8-3 in a clash of Class C South contenders.
“We knew coming into the season that we were going to have to battle with these tough teams. Especially coming into this game, we knew that Dirigo was going to be really good and we knew that we had to stick together,” said Monmouth’s Lillian Palleschi. “And we practiced for this moment, so just coming out and executing, that’s all we had to do.”
Palleschi, who finished 4 for 4 with two RBI and two runs, was one of the six Monmouth players to record a hit against Dirigo (14-1) – a stat reflective of the complete effort the Mustangs (14-2) strung together in their regular-season finale.
“I knew that I had to lead off with something good to get everyone going and that’s all I had to do,” Palleschi said. “Just make contact, get on base so other people could get on base and kind of put pressure on (Dirigo’s) defense to see what they could do and see what we could do.”
Monmouth moved ahead of Dirigo for first place in the Heal point standings, but Dirigo has one game remaining Thursday against Mountain Valley.
How it happened
• Monmouth scored four runs in the top of the first inning. Palleschi, Kaitlyn Frost, Eveyln Pettengill and Riley Smith cored to set the tone. It helped, too, that Pettengill held the Cougars to one hit through the first three innings.
• Dirigo’s bats awakened in the bottom of the fourth, as Abby Luczynski’s RBI single cut the Cougars’ deficit to 6-2.
• In the top of the fifth, Lauren Burnham hit an inside-the-park home run.
Statistical leaders
• Monmouth: Lillian Palleschi (4 for 4, two RBI, two runs), Lauren Burnham (1 for 4, home run, RBI, run), Evelyn Pettengill (seven innings pitched, five strikeouts; 3 for 4, RBI, run)
• Dirigo: Nikole Turnbull (2 for 3, RBI, run), Abby Luczynski (1 for 3, RBI)
Heard it here first
• “Our mindset’s not to take anything for granted. There are a lot of good teams in C South, so we’re just going to get back to kind of doing the small things better and understanding that any day, mistakes can creep up on us. So we’re just going to focus on minimizing those and working through that, and coming out as strong as we can and staying together like we’ve always done all year.” — Monmouth coach Christen Garnett
• “Undefeated … never a goal at all. It was trying to be one of the top seeds in Class C and see what we can do in the playoffs.” — Dirigo coach Scott Robbins
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