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STANDISH — It was about the last news Madison coach Chris LeBlanc wanted to hear before the Western C final. Fortunately for him, he didn’t hear it.
Madison’s Emily McKenney has been one of the state’s best pitchers this year, with an ERA well under 1.00 and roughly five strikeouts for every hit she allows. But as she warmed up with catcher Aly LeBlanc, McKenney knew she didn’t have her best stuff.
McKenney and LeBlanc kept quiet, and all McKenney did was take a no-hitter into the sixth inning. She finished with a two-hit shutout and six strikeouts as top-ranked Madison defeated second-seeded Hall-Dale 2-0 on Tuesday night at St. Joseph’s College.
“I definitely did not have one of my best pitching games,” McKenney said. “I did not strike out very many people, but we did throw a lot of ground-ball pitches, which I think helped a lot. We knew from warm-ups that I definitely wasn’t having one of my better games.”
Madison (18-1) faces Eastern C champion Calais for the state title at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Joseph’s. Hall-Dale finishes 14-5.
In last year’s state final, Madison struggled fielding the bunt and lost. The Bulldogs have been preparing for the bunt since the first day of practice this season, and when Hall-Dale tried to win with the bunt, Madison was ready.
“They’re a very well-coached team, and I think that (Hall-Dale coach Christen Lachapelle) knew that probably, in order to manufacture some runs, they were going to have to bunt,” LeBlanc said. “We just thought that’s what they were going to do, so we decided to bring ’em up.”
Madison did not commit an error; McKenney herself had eight assists.
“I actually don’t take a lot of ground balls,” McKenney said, laughing. “When they’re doing infield and stuff, I’m usually out warming up. It’s definitely nerve-wracking when that first one comes to me, but I just have to stay calm. I know I can do it — I just have to relax.”
Hall-Dale pitcher Olivia Maynard was also tough, and Madison had to scrap for its two runs. With two out in the bottom of the second inning, Alex Jarvais plunked a double down the right field line. That brought up freshman Madeline Wood in a scoreless game.
“Definitely, my nerves were kicking in, because this is the biggest game I’ve been in,” Wood said. “I knew I had to stay calm, and lay off the high pitch.”
Wood jumped on a pitch and sent it to deep right field for a triple and a 1-0 lead.
“When you hit it good, you don’t really feel the hit,” Wood said. “You just know that it went far.”
Madison’s other run came in the third inning. Speedster Kayla Bess (2 for 2 with a walk) bunted for a single and stole second. Bess took third on McKenney’s groundout and scored standing up on Aly LeBlanc’s safety squeeze bunt. Though Bess got a little reminder about sliding from Coach LeBlanc, she also gave Madison a 2-0 lead.
Meanwhile, McKenney retired 14 in a row after Eva Shepherd’s two-out walk in the first inning. The streak was broken when pinch hitter Liz Benner hit a high-chop single to third base. Benner was stranded at second, but Shepherd led off the Hall-Dale seventh with a fly ball single to right-center field — the only ball McKenney allowed out of the infield all game. Shepherd got as far as third, but Madison third baseman Savanna Kandiko made two nice plays on ground balls and McKenney got a strikeout for the final three outs.
While Madison was the preseason favorite to represent Western C in the state title game, Hall-Dale — a team with only two seniors — did well to get this far. Hall-Dale shook off a 2-2 start to win 10 in a row, then recovered from back-to-back losses at the end of the regular season to win two playoff games and reach the regional final.
“I’m proud of them right now. It’s hard to find the words to tell them,” Hall-Dale coach Christen Lachapelle said. “What I’m most impressed and proud of is the fact that these girls, for the most part, were able to put their egos aside, and came together and had a collective goal of getting here and beyond. I’m proud of them for reaching that goal. They all wanted this. They all wanted a different outcome, but you’re looking at a very good Madison team. We held them 2-0, and we just couldn’t put enough together.”
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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