The Mascenic Vikings are headed to the semifinals after beating three-time defending champion Campbell on Monday afternoon.
Mascenic got their spark from Pitcher of the Year finalist Maddie Labrie, who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of the Vikings’ 9-2 win. Labrie struck out six in the game and only allowed one hit, a single in the top of the seventh.
The Vikings jumped out to an early lead, as leadoff hitter Sam Bilodeau opened the game with a double and Labrie reached on a bunt; then, Casey Wayrynen, playing in her final home game, knocked Bilodeau in and Raven Comtois drove in Labrie.
Mascenic played virtually error-free and actually turned a few tough situations their way. In the second, with Ashley Gibbons on first and one down, Campbell tried a move that had worked earlier in the season, when the Cougars handed the Vikings their first loss. Jess Manning dropped down a sacrifice bunt, which third baseman Melonie Ojala charged, scooped and fired to first. With the ball in the air, Gibbons rounded second and headed for third. Comtois snagged the throw, tagged first and then whipped the ball over to third, with shortstop Jordyn Babin sprinting to cover. The throw was high, but Babin leapt for the ball, pulled it in and landed with a tag that caught Gibbons off the bag.
“Luckily, she’s just tall enough and long enough to get that ball,” said coach Dutch Stauffeneker after the game.
The Vikings mobbed Babin between innings, patting her helmet and celebrating ‘til they were hoarse.
“I can’t even scream!” croaked Comtois.
Campbell scored twice in the fifth after a hit batsman and a walk, but Mascenic put them away in the bottom half of the inning, when Ojala made the biggest play of her career to date, a bases-clearing triple. Mascenic batted around and scored six to effectively finish the game.
Mascenic heads to Plymouth State University Wednesday at 7 p.m. to take on undefeated No. 1 White Mountains. The Spartans destroyed their North Country competition this season, averaging over 15 runs per game (by comparison, Mascenic averaged eight per game), but their schedule was decidely easier. White Mountains has been runner-up (to Campbell) in the state finals the past three years.
Results from that game will be in Tuesday’s Monadnock Ledger-Transcript and online at ledgertranscript.com.