WATERBORO — Gorham senior pitcher Grace McGouldrick has been known to take over a softball game — both with her arm and with a bat in her hands.
On Friday afternoon it would be another senior pitcher that would steal the show. Massabesic’s Cayleigh Morris allowed just six hits in the circle and would drive home the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Mustangs rallied for a 2-1 win over the Rams.
“That was just a great game of softball right there,” said Massabesic coach Kevin Tutt.
The Mustangs had managed only two singles off of McGouldrick through the first five innings, but they would come up with a couple clutch hits in the bottom of the sixth.
With one out, Lacey Bean worked a walk and would steal second to set the table for Lauren Kiss. The Massabesic third baseman drove a pitch right up the middle for a double to score Bean and tie the game.

Morris came to the plate with a chance to at least move Kiss into scoring position — but she decided to do a lot more than that. The senior smashed a ball all the way to the fence which allowed Kiss to score and gave the Mustangs a 2-1 lead.
“I was honestly just thinking to myself, ‘I’ve got to keep it together, keep calm and just pace myself with her windup and just go with it when I see something I like,’” said Morris on her gameplan against McGouldrick in the sixth.
The one-run lead would be enough for Morris as she worked around a two-out double by Tatyanna Biamby to slam the door on the Rams — ending the game with one of her seven strikeouts.
Tutt knew it was going to be tough to score a lot of runs against McGouldrick, who finished with 11 strikeouts.
“Grace McGouldrick, first and foremost, is just a class-act kid. She has a tremendous mound presence and is the complete leader of that team … I have a lot of respect for that kid,” said Tutt. “We knew it was going to be tough. We talked about trying to get barrels on it and it’s pretty tough when (McGouldrick is) throwing as well as she did. We had to be patient and had to wait it out. Our defense had to play as good as we humanly can and then we had to take advantage.”

Morris enjoyed the battle with McGouldrick.
“It was extremely intense. She’s a very respectable player and it’s just crazy, especially being able to hit off of her,” said Morris.
Gorham assistant coach Rebecca Manson is hoping the Rams will learn from the loss to Massabesic as they prepare for the playoffs.
“We knew this was going to be a one-run game. We made a couple mistakes on the bases and we’ll learn from that and we’re going to come back fresh (for the playoffs),” said Manson.
The Mustangs’ big win on Senior Night gives them a 12-4 regular season record, which is especially impressive after starting the season with two straight losses. Tutt believes his players’ attitude and team-first mentality are a big reason why they are going to be a top five seed in the Class A South playoffs.
“We just have a bunch of kids that work with the premise of ‘we before me.’ They put everybody’s intentions before their own and it’s a process that hasn’t happened over night. It’s been a long time coming and I’m grateful for this group of seniors that worked their asses off,” said Tutt. “There’s a no quit attitude with these kids and they just fight, fight, fight and that’s all we can ever ask for.”
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.