WELLS — As Wells High softball coach Kevin Fox said, “sometimes it really is a game of inches.”
With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Hannah Moody looped a ball over Yarmouth pitcher Ceanne Lyon’s head just far enough to elude hustling second baseman Sydney St. Pierre. Karissa Kenyon ran across with the winning run as No. 1 Wells beat No. 4 Yarmouth 2-1 in a Class B South semifinal Saturday.
“I was thinking just get the bat on the ball and we have a girl on third so she should be able to get home,” Moody said. “It was just incredible. I saw it. (St. Pierre) was so close to it.”
Wells (17-1) returns to the regional final for the first time since 2014 and will face third-seeded Fryeburg Academy at 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Joseph’s College. Fryeburg (15-3), which beat No. 7 Morse 5-4 in the other semifinal, is the only team to defeat Wells this season.
Even after Moody’s hit slipped out of the lunging St. Pierre’s glove, the run wasn’t a sure thing. Kenyon, who led off the seventh with a sharp double to right and advanced on a groundout, had to hold at third to make sure the ball wasn’t caught.
“I thought she was going to catch it, but then she missed it so I just booked it,” Kenyon said.
With Kenyon on third and one out, Yarmouth had pulled its four infielders in tight, about equal distance with the pitcher’s mound.
“If that run scores, they win, and (Kenyon) has speed, so we have to make sure we’re in to be able at least throw her out at the plate,” said Yarmouth Coach Amy Ashley. “Just an inch away. A centimeter. It tipped off her glove. The fact that (St. Pierre) got there shows her ability.”
In the regular season, Wells beat Yarmouth 2-0, holding off a bases-loaded rally in the seventh.
This time, Yarmouth tied the game in the top of the seventh. St. Pierre led off with a triple to right. Like Kenyon’s double a half-inning later, the ball was nearly caught, then rolled past the right fielder. Hannah Merrill followed with a sharp single to tie the game.
Wells pitcher Anya Chase bore down after that, getting a groundball out and her 10th and 11th strikeouts.
“I knew this would be a battle coming in, definitely,” said Chase, who allowed five hits, walked one and hit a batter.
Lyon was equally effective for Yarmouth, allowing six hits and getting nine groundball outs – seven to St. Pierre.
Wells’ first run came in the second inning. Sara Ring beat out an infield hit and was replaced by courtesy runner Meredith Bogue, a freshman called up from the JV because of her speed. With an aggressive lead, Bogue drew a low throw from catcher Cate Ralph that skipped into right field. Two more throwing errors followed on the play as Bogue slid into second, then third and finally safely home.
“It’s unfortunate, that first run they scored, it’s not us,” Ashley said.
Steve Craig can be reached at 791-6413 or:
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