OLD ORCHARD BEACH — After a one-game absence, a Wells offense that had been averaging double-digit runs returned in a big way, as the Class B Warriors rolled to a 24-1 victory over the Class C Old Orchard Beach Seagulls in a Western Maine Conference softball game on Monday.

The Warriors (3-1) weren’t crisp from the start, as a lead-off walk by Steph Woods was negated when she left the first base bag too soon trying to steal second and was ruled out. OOB starting pitcher Peyton Feitz then got the next two batters to ground out and fly out to get an unconventional 1-2-3 inning.

The Seagulls (0-4) then took advantage of a sloppy first inning defensively for Wells. Eryca Leclerc led off with a grounder through the legs of second baseman Alison Duplisea, then Abby Dubois followed with a bouncer off the glove of third baseman Jordan Agger. After Wells starting pitcher Nodine Webster struck out Mykayla Geaumont, Tiffany Leclair singled to right-center to plate Leclerc. Webster then sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a hit batter to get out of the jam.

The Warriors answered with a pair of runs in the top of the second. Agger hit a double to deep center leading off, and advanced to third on a botched cut-off play, as the OOB defense started to get sloppy. Sophie Lamb tied the game with a sacrifice grounder, and Kaitlyn Tufts got on with a walk. Tufts stole second and moved to third on a bad throw from catcher Carissa Erickson, then scored on a sacrifice bunt by Webster. Feitz gave up a double to Sara Ring, but stranded two runners in scoring position by getting Amanda Woods to pop out to short.

The game changed from that point, as Webster got in rhythm on the mound ”“ allowing just one more hit while striking out four more batters over the next three innings ”“ and the Wells offense stopped allowing Feitz to get out of jams.

“We play these Class B teams, and we handle them for a bit, and we have hope, and we’re juiced up, and then somewhere down the line there’s a big inning, and the game just changes,” said OOB head coach Jim Pirrello. “We’ve got to play a full, seven-inning game, not a three-inning game, and that’s been our problem. When we make mistakes, it escalates the Class B talent. We can’t help Class B teams.”

The Warriors lineup came around for the second time through the order to open the third inning, and that’s when the bats really came alive. The first eight batters of the frame reached base, as the Warriors pounded out four singles, two doubles, a walk and a three-run home run by Tufts to deep left to plate seven runs.

“We talk about getting quality at-bats, and if we’re going to put it in play, we want to hit it hard and level, and they did a nice job of doing that and finding those gaps and coming up with some big hits for us,” said Wells head coach Kevin Fox.

Wells did one better in the fourth, as eight of nine hitters reached after a lead-off groundout, including a grand slam by Amanda Woods and a three-run homer by Lauren Bame, to bring across eight more runs.

“They hit some balls that nobody was going to catch today,” Pirrello said of Wells’ performance.

Geaumont came on in relief of Feitz on the mound in the top of the fifth, but the Wells lineup kept banging out hits. Eight batters reached base to score seven more runs to close out the scoring.

“Consistency is what it’s all about. We had a down game last game (a 14-0 loss to Fryeburg); these guys were hungry to get back out on the field, and they answered,” said Fox. “We’ve got three more games this week, and hopefully consistency is there.”

“We’re coming,” said Pirrello. “We’ve got two Class C games this week, and I think, and the girls think, we can be not just competitive, but we can win them.”

— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or sports@journaltribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.