PARIS — Edward Little used its speed to capitalize on Oxford Hills errors in a six-run fifth inning that boosted the seventh-seeded Red Eddies to a 7-4 win over the second-seeded Vikings in a Class A North softball quarterfinal Thursday.
Oxford Hills committed three of its four errors in the top of the fifth, and Edward Little turned to its plethora of pinch runners to take advantage.
“We have a large roster when it comes to playoffs, and those kids can either come in for a pinch-hitting situation, or today, we utilized their feet and their speed,” Derosby said. “That inning that we scored those runs, we utilized the speed of the people that we had, and we had a couple more that we’ve thrown into a game all year long. That is why we do that.”
Edward Little (11-6) advances to face No. 3 Brewer (12-5) in the A North semifinals Saturday at noon. The Witches won the only regular-season matchup with the Ghosts, 8-7 in eight innings on May 21.
How Edward Little won
• The Red Eddies’ fifth-inning explosion turned a 1-1 game into a 7-1 advantage.
• Edward Little was strong in the field, especially in the outfield, as they held the Vikings to four hits.
• Pinch running kept Edward Little’s base runners energized, and the momentum going when bases were loaded.
Third time’s the charm
Oxford Hills (12-5), the Class A North champion the past two years, won both of the teams’ regular season meetings, beating Edward Little 12-0 on May 9 and 1-0 on May 27.
Statistical leaders
Edward Little: Kylee Lebrun (two hits), Emily Poulin (two walks, one run).
Oxford Hills: Attie Campbell (RBI), Gigi DeVivo (two walks, two runs), Kyeria Morse (RBI; 4 1/3 IP, four strikeouts)
They said it
• “We fully prepared for Kyeria (Morse), she is the best pitcher in our league, best player. She’s a competitor, she has the most experience, so for the last couple of days we totally prepared for her.” — Edward Little coach Elaine Derosby
• “I think we made our mistakes defensively, and we were probably a little aggressive on our plays at home. We probably could have held them and had other people try to drive them in, but that’s not the kind of softball that we normally play. We like to try to stretch it.” — Oxford Hills coach Cindy Goddard
• “I have competed against Cindy (Goddard) as a player, and I’ve competed for the last 20 something years as a coach. Her program is always at the top, so I never will underestimate their ability to come back in an instant. We just talked about staying in the moment, doing the easy play in that half inning, as easy as that may have not looked, but you can never count them out.” — Derosby
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