SACO — Last week was a make-or-break week for the Thornton Academy softball team, as the Trojans played five games in six days.

Needless to say, the Trojans didn’t break, capping off a 5-0 week with a 5-0 victory over rival Biddeford on Saturday.

Both teams entered Saturday’s clash on hot streaks: Thornton (10-3) had won seven games in a row, and Biddeford (9-3) six-straight. Both head coaches said their respective teams have had solid hitting, pitching and defense during their winning streaks, so something had to give.

On Saturday, it was the Tigers’ bats that went silent. Thornton starting pitcher Bailey Tremblay was dominant on the mound, throwing a two-hitter, with six strikeouts and just one walk, as she featured a changeup that got the best of Biddeford hitters all game.

“She’s in a zone right now,” Thornton head coach John Provost said of Tremblay. “And with her, if that changeup is on, she’s a tough kid to hit. When the changeup is on, it just keeps their batters off-balance.”

“Her changeup is my favorite part of the game,” said Thornton shortstop Brooke Cross. “It’s a good one. It’s pretty funny watching some people strike out on that.”

The game might have been different if Tremblay didn’t dig her way out of a jam in the top of the first inning. She issued her only walk of the game to Charlotte White with one out, then gave up a double to Abbie Paquette, but courtesy runner Alex Chasse was held at third. That was as far as both base runners got, however, as Tremblay induced an infield pop-up and a groundout to get out of the inning.

“If you can get the jump on somebody, everything changes. You’re relaxed more on defense, it’s a little more pressure on them,” said Biddeford head coach Leon Paquin. “Instead, we didn’t.”

Tremblay retired 16 of the next 17 batters after Paquette’s first-inning double, as only a fielding error by third baseman Kaylee Burns in the fourth broke up the string. Burns made up for the gaffe by fielding four-straight outs across the fifth and sixth innings.

“If she doesn’t make those, those are two doubles,” Paquin said of Burns’ glove work during the four-out stretch. “That’s just the game. If they make the plays, you tip your cap to them.”

Another double by Paquette in the sixth was the only other Biddeford base runner in the game.

The Thornton offense, on the other hand, found some success against Paquette on the mound, putting runners on in every inning.

A lead-off double by Cross to start the second netted the Trojans’ first run, as Cross scored two batters later when Maizie Lee grounded a single through the hole left by the shortstop on a hit-and-run.

“It’s timely hitting. It’s hitting with two outs, it’s hitting with runners in scoring position,” Provost said of what’s been driving his team’s offense.

Cross doubled again to lead off the fourth, and again scored as Burns followed with a ground-rule double to deep left-center.

Thornton plated a pair of runs in the fifth as Taylor Lux led off with a walk and scored two batters later on a deep double by Erin Brayden. Brayden scored two batters later when Biddeford first baseman Kirsten Lebreux couldn’t hold onto a throw from third on a Cross grounder.

The final run came in the bottom of the sixth as Aleisha Cross singled and scored on a RBI single by Lux.

“We’re all just getting hyped, we’ve been hitting the gaps, doing really well, and cheering each other on; keeping each other up is our big thing, and it’s working really well for us,” said Cross. “We had a really good energy from the start, and we just kept it like that. That’s why we pulled through.”

Cross said that the team’s positive attitude throughout a 5-1 loss to Scarborough on May 5 ”“ Thornton’s last loss ”“ has fueled it through its eight-consecutive wins.

Paquin said his team has the same up-beat outlook after seeing its’ winning streak come to an end.

“They’re not deflated. They know there’s not that much difference between the two teams,” said Paquin. “If our hard hit balls drop in, it’s a little different. And if we get a lead, it’s a little different. Anytime there’s two teams that play, only one can win.

“It’s not that we played bad, but they played better. We play them again at the end of the year, and hopefully we split for the year, and we’ll be at home when we do it.”

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