SACO — The No. 3 Thornton Academy softball team cruised to a 14-2 win over the visiting No. 6 Massabesic Mustangs in the Class A South quarterfinals on Thursday.

Despite taking an early lead, the Mustangs were unable to match the Trojan bats as TA would pick up six runs in both the third and fourth inning to secure the win.

Sarah Casey led TA at the dish, hitting two homeruns, including a grand slam and a two-run shot. Casey served as TA’s designated hitter in Thursday’s game, a position that she had only played once prior this season.

“I did not see (the homeruns) coming at all, this was only my second game at DH so I wasn’t even sure if I was playing today. It was really cool,” said Casey.

“She had a breakout game today. That was just gut — she had really been having the last three or four days tremendous (batting practice), we had nothing to lose,” added TA coach John Provost.

Massabesic would draw first blood with a leadoff homerun by Alyvia Cormier in the third inning to give the Mustangs the 1-0 lead.

TA would respond in the bottom half of the inning, picking up six runs on five hits to take the commanding 6-1 lead. Casey hit a two-run shot, along with RBI doubles from Jenica Botting and Kaya O’Connor. Hannah Collins also added a two-run single in the inning.

Massabesic would add one more run on an RBI single from Kyra-Mei Cartwright, however TA would add its next six runs in the following at bats. Kaitlin Verreault kicked things off with a solo homerun, followed by a sacrifice fly by Olivia Paradis. Casey capped things off with her grand slam.

“It was really tough. They’re an offensive-minded team, they also played good defense and had (Louisa) Colucci on the mound and that’s a good one-two punch,” said Massabesic coach Kevin Tutt. “They put a ton of work in during the winter and it shows, we’re trying to match that.”

TA would score its final two runs on an RBI double in the fifth from Olivia Howe and would later get the 14th run on a passed ball in the six that closed out the game.

Colucci earned the win in the circle, allowing just two hits while striking out seven. 

“They matched their offense against my pitcher and their offense came up big. All the credit to them, they hit, Colucci had a great game, we tip our hats to them,” said Tutt.

Massabesic finished the year at 12-6 while TA improves to 14-3. Casey hopes the Trojans will continue to work together in the semifinals.

“We’ve worked through a lot this season so to see it pay off in the playoffs is really cool, we just need to keep playing together,” said Casey.

— Associate Sports Editor Alex Sponseller can be reached at asponseller@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.