BREWER – There was no more room in the season for another comeback by the Fryeburg Academy softball team.

Instead, the Raiders’ final opportunity to produce runs fell short Saturday in a 6-1 loss to Hermon in the Class B state final at Coffin Field.

With the bases loaded and one out in the top of the seventh inning, Debbie Colpitts of Hermon struck out the final two Fryeburg batters she faced — her 10th and 11th strikeouts of the game.

“We didn’t really know what to expect,” Colpitts said. “We just were going to come out the way we normally do and do what we can.

“Whatever the outcome was, we had to make sure we did our best.”

Hermon (17-2) ended Fryeburg’s reign as the two-time Class B state champion, but the Raiders (18-2) reached the Class B title game this year because of a postseason in which they staged comebacks to win their Western Class B quarterfinal (10-6 against Lisbon), semifinal (5-4 against Gray-New Gloucester) and then also the championship game (4-3 against Marancook).

“All around the community, everyone didn’t think we were going to make it half as far as we did this year,” said Fryeburg pitcher Charlotte Lewis, who struck out five.

“They thought we may have an all right season but no one thought we were going to make it this far. We were kind of against all odds and I think that it’s an amazing feat to get here.”

Not only did Colpitts stop the Raiders, but her team was able to produce timely offense and capitalize on errors.

All six of Hermon’s runs were unearned.

The Hawks took a 3-0 lead in the first after the Raiders committed two errors.

Hermon doubled its lead to 6-0 in the fifth on Kristen Wilcox’s three-run double, including Shannon Graves, who reached on an error.

“We made a few mistakes and they’re a great team, they took advantage of any mistake we made,” Fryeburg Coach Fred Apt said.

“We scored five, six times every game and this is the least we’ve scored all year. They did a great job. We hit a few balls and they made the plays.

“They did what we’ve done all year, to be honest. They took advantage of every mistake and they didn’t make many mistakes. And when they did, we couldn’t capitalize on them.”

Fryeburg’s best chance to tie or cut the lead came in the fourth, after Maggie McConkey’s single drove in Brylie Walker.

After Lewis walked, Ariel McConkey was picked off at third, and with Lewis on first and Maggie McConkey on second, Colpitts struck out Maddie Perason and Ashley Watkins to end the inning.

“I don’t think we picked our pitches that we wanted to hit,” Lewis said. “We were nervous, we were anxious and maybe excited.

“We didn’t really focus there until the last inning. That’s when we started rallying. We didn’t have that all game and I think we needed to start that earlier.”

But with Pearson, Kaela Mitchell and Kelsey Sheehan on base with one out, Colpitts and Hermon came through, striking out Carla Tripp and then Walker to end the game.

“They dug deep to make that last out,” Lewis said. “They’re a very good team.”

Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be reached at 791-6415 or at:

rlenzi@pressheraldcom