The Orioles trailed until the seventh inning of Wednesday’s rivalry softball game at Mascenic, but after Conant tied it up and forced extra innings, the Vikings won it on a phenomenal performance from freshman pitcher Maddie Labrie.
“She’s a gamer,” said Mascenic head coach Dutch Stauffeneker of his young hurler. “This girl’s tough, and she’s going to be some fun to watch over the next 3-4 years, because she’s just got a lot of guts and she doesn’t seem to fear the moment. She just goes out there and throws.”
Labrie struck out 17 in the game, none bigger than her last. In the top of the ninth with the score knotted at six, the Orioles had Kenzey Aho on third base and Bethany Hector at the plate with two down. After going down 0-2, Hector fouled off a couple pitches before Labrie reared back and fired a heater to retire the side with her 99th strikeout of the season.
Labrie was instrumental in picking up her team after the Vikings let the Orioles back in the game in what would have been Conant’s last ups. Conant trailed 6-3 going into the seventh, but Devon Blood tripled and scored, Brenna Welch singled and scored and then Madison Picard tripled and scored on an error to tie it.
“That team’s scrappy,” Stauffeneker said. “We knew they were. They’re full of grit. It’s Conant. They’ve always had that never-quit attitude. You knew they weren’t just going to lay down and walk away with a 6-3 loss. So they battled and made it interesting.”
Conant was in a come-from-behind position despite hitting Mascenic’s ace relatively well. The Orioles had 11 hits, but stranded 12 runners.
“Offensively we didn’t have anything,” said Conant head coach Tom Lambert. “We couldn’t get anything going.” Lambert pointed at pitch selection as the Orioles’ Achilles heel that day.
“They’re chasing stuff up over their belt,” Lambert said. “They’re not going to ever hit it, and it’s ball four — it should be ball four and it’s strike two. So there’s another out right there. It’s frustrating.”
After holding Conant in the top of the ninth, Mascenic brought their their 9-1-2 hitters to the plate to face Maddy Springfield, who’s been the source of much heartache for Mascenic in recent years.
“Their whole careers, they’ve been beat on by Conant,” Stauffeneker said, “whether it’s baseball or softball or basketball.”
With one out, Sam Bilodeau roped a ball to center that was played well by Hector and fired into the cutoff. Bilodeau took a huge risk and went for two, sliding in just safe in a cloud of dust. That brought Labrie to the plate. She fouled a pitch off and then ripped another ball to center that allowed Bilodeau to score with ease, igniting a Mascenic mob scene at the mound as the Orioles returned to the dugout dejected with a 7-6 loss.
“Going into that last inning I just said ‘Maddie’s throwing her guts out for us, let’s go win it for her!’ and she ends up getting the game-winning hit,” Stauffeneker said.
The Orioles will have a chance for revenge on Wednesday, when the Vikings come to Jaffrey for a rematch at 4 p.m.
“We’ll probably have to work really hard in our practices and take everything really seriously and be prepared for that game,” Labrie said.
But first, they took a trip to Tyler’s for some celebratory ice cream. When you beat Conant, you get two scoops.
Mascenic followed up their rivalry game win with a double serving of success to close out the week. On Thursday, the Vikings completed their game with Bishop Brady, suspended a couple weeks back due to rain. Mascenic was already up 5-1 in that one as play resumed, and ended up winning 7-4. Wayrynen tripled in two runs and Labrie and Babin each scored twice. Labrie struck out eight in the win.
On Friday, Mascenic destroyed Hillsboro-Deering in five innings, winning 17-0. Wayrynen went 4-4 with two doubles and three RBI; Raven Comtois went 2-3 with two RBI and Labrie was 2-2 with another two RBI.
Conant had no trouble with Stevens on Friday as they rebounded with a 9-1 win. In that game, Springfield went 2-4 with a double, a triple and three RBI and Bethany Hector drove in two. Brenna Welch pitched for the complete game victory.