STANDISH
The way Morse pitcher Dory Kulis and Greely fireballer Kelsey Currier were pitching in Wednesday’s Class B South high school softball regional final on Bailey Field at Saint Joseph’s College, it became apparent that one run might just be enough.
Unfortunately for the fourth-seeded Shipbuilders, it was the Rangers who found a way, with Greely slipping past Morse, 1-0.
It was an unlucky third inning and the pitching of Currier that did in the ’Builders, who were appearing in their first regional final.
Currier was superb, tossing a one-hitter and striking out nine in going the distance.
On the other side, Kulis struck out seven, walked one and permitted six hits. Five of those hits dropped within a matter of feet beyond the infield dirt and onto the outfield grass.
“The fence is 15 feet further back than we are used to, and we tried to bring them in, thinking the outfielders were a little bit deep,” said Morse coach Will Laffely after his team concluded the year with a 14-5 record after seeing a 10- game winning streak end. “I think they judge themselves from the fence, so we were 10 feet or so further back. Those hits just dropped in.”
In the Greely third, Mollie Obar hit a fly ball to shallow right field. Morse second baseman Julia Goddard and right fielder Kali Pierce converged on the sinking ball, which hit the grass and caromed away from the Shipbuilders. Obar hustled all the way to third for a leadoff triple.
No. 9 hitter Delia Knox didn’t get much of her bat on Kulis’ next pitch. But, the ball dropped into left field for a run-scoring single and a 1-0 Ranger lead.
Kulis pitched out of a jam later in third. With the bases loaded and one out, she picked up consecutive strikeouts to keep her team behind by just one.
Greely pitching
Currier struck out two Shipbuilders in each of the first three frames, and retired 11 straight Morse hitters after Sierra Wallace walked with one out in the first inning.
“Before the game I could just tell in warm-ups that everything was working well,” said Currier, who also pitched the Rangers to a 1-0 win over No. 2 Gray-New Gloucester in the semifinals. “I was trying to throw hard and just leave it all on the field.”
“The scouting report was that she liked to throw inside and then out, and I think she is a bit quicker than the pitchers we saw during the season,” said Laffely of Currier. “We practiced over the past couple weeks taking the inside pitch and going the other way. Today, we didn’t do that.”
“She got in our heads and we weren’t seeing our pitches. We swung at her pitches,” said Kulis.
It wasn’t until the fifth inning when Morse picked up its lone hit. Abby Carpenter drove a Currier change-up up the middle for a clean single to open the frame. With one out, Micailah Albertson dropped a bunt, with Currier throwing to first for the second out. Carpenter ran to second and rounded for third, with the base vacated by the charging Ranger infield. But, left fielder Hannah Johnston hustled to the bag, forcing Carpenter to reverse course. Johnston chased her down for the final out of the inning.
Kulis worked around a twoout single by Lindsay Eisenhart in the sixth, and she quickly set the Rangers down in order in the seventh.
However, there was no denying Currier, who struck out two Shipbuilders in the sixth before throwing just three pitches in the seventh, with Morse going down quickly to end the game and its season, one step away from its goal of a regional title. Greely played solid defense, committing zero errors behind Currier.
“I try not to focus on the runners around me and just trust the people behind me 100 percent to do their jobs as I do mine,” Currier said.
Morse, which also played errorless baseball behind Kulis, continued to battle until the end.
“They believed in themselves up until the final out,” Laffely said of his team.“Their goal is to put something up on that banner. It is empty in the school. That is what they want.”
“We all kept our heads in it and rallied together,” said Kulis. This was a really good season and we made Morse history. I am very proud of my team.”
The future certainly looks bright for the ’Builders, with a solid core set to return next season for another run.
“It looks good for us. When you have a really good pitcher, you can go a long way,” said Laffely, who will need to replace solid seniors Albertson, Maddy Mitchell, Wallace, Moriah Albertson and Marissa Parks.
For Greely, a season that began 5-7 now continues into Saturday’s State Class B championship against Brewer (3:30 p.m.). The Witches, who downed Oceanside, 6-2, in the Class B North regional final, will host the title game on their home field.
“Even in the beginning of the season, we knew it would be a different season. This is amazing,” said Currier of her 13-7 team.
No. 6 Greely 1, No. 4 Morse 0
Class B South Regional Softball Final At Saint Joseph’s College in Standish
Greely — 001 000 0 — 1-6-0
Morse — 000 000 0 — 0-1-0
Kelsey Currier and Madison Rawnsley; Dory Kulis and Paige Faulkingham. WP — Currier; LP – Kulis.
Double — (G) Kelsey Currier.
Triple — (G) Mollie Obar.
Records — Greely 13-7, Morse 14-5.
Note — Morse’s season is completed.
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