STANDISH — The juggernaut continues.
Scarborough High’s softball team fell behind by three runs before it came to bat Wednesday night and then roared back for another regional championship.
The top-ranked Red Storm won their third consecutive Class A South softball title, defeating second-ranked Thornton Academy 8-4 at St. Joseph’s College. The victory ran Scarborough’s winning streak to 59 games.
“This is special, especially after losing eight seniors from last year,” said Scarborough senior second baseman Courtney Brochu. “A lot of people didn’t think we’d be very good, or at least as good as we were. So it feels good to just prove everybody wrong and say we’re still pretty good, we’re still Scarborough, we can still play softball.”
Scarborough (19-0) will play Skowhegan in the Class A state title game at 4 p.m. Saturday at Brewer High. It will be the fifth state title game between the teams. Scarborough won the previous four.
The Trojans finished 17-2, with both losses to the Red Storm.
“It came down to execution,” said Thornton Coach John Provost. “You can’t let them hang around. We had chances the first and second to break the thing open, they clawed back with one run three innings in a row.
“We just didn’t make plays. You’ve got to make plays against them.”
The Trojans struck quickly, getting three runs in the first on an RBI double by Abby Miner, an RBI single by Hannah Collins and a run-scoring ground out by Olivia Paradis. Thornton had another threat in the second, but stranded two runners.
Then Scarborough took over.
The Red Storm scored single runs in the first, second and third innings to tie it, then took the lead with two in the fourth. Bella Dickinson drove in Mollie Verreault with the go-ahead run when she ripped a single to center. After Dickinson stole second, AJ Swett singled to left to drive her in.
“Chip away, chip away, chip away,” said Scarborough Coach Tom Griffin. “We knew three runs wasn’t going to win this game. We just needed to keep chipping away, and we did.”
Scarborough added three in the sixth when Swett doubled in Ava McDonald, and Caitlin Noiles hit a two-run double.
And Dickinson was nearly unhittable after the second. She allowed only one hit and two walks after the second. Dickinson, who had three hits and scored three runs, credited catcher Sylvia Foley with getting her back on track.
“I think it was just figuring out the setting and the surroundings,” said Dickinson. “Sylvia did a good job calming me down when I was getting flustered. She kept me calm and relaxed. She was really good tonight.”
Thornton got a run in the top of the seventh on a single by Miner. But Brochu ended the game with a nice play, fielding a little looper behind the pitching circle and throwing to first for the final out.
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