TURNER — It didn’t take long for the Leavitt softball team to find itself in a hole Monday afternoon.

Maranacook belted a pair of hits to start the game, scored single runs in each of the first two innings and could have had more.

The early deficit didn’t seem to fluster the Hornets at all.

“We kind of knew coming in that they’re a good team,” said senior centerfielder Emily Perkins. “We just tried to keep our heads up. We just focused on staying positive.”

Leavitt also got its bats going. The Hornets shrugged off that early lead and subsequently slugged out 18 hits to beat the Black Bears 15-3 in KVAC action.

Maranacook (3-3) was ranked fourth in Western Class C, while the Hornets (3-2) were eighth in Western B.

“We thought it would be an even matchup,” said Perkins, who finished with four hits, three RBI and a nice running catch in the outfield. “It was good to come out on top.”

Leavitt got solid pitching from Ashely Kelley and Abbie Robertson and some solid defense in the field. In addition to Perkins’ fine catch in center, Annie Castonguay made a nice diving catch at first, and Angela Daigle made a leaping catch at short.

Olivia Gilbert also had four hits and drove in a run for Leavitt. Daigle had three hits and plated a pair while Chantel Eells had a pair of hits and drove in a run. The Hornets also got hits from Castonguay, Kaitlyn Deblois, Kierstin Leclerc, Sierra Santomango and Olivia Bubier.

“We’ve got a lot of potential for hitting,” said Leavitt coach Pete Higgins, whose team has scored 61 runs total in five games this season. “We’re trying to give the rookie pitchers as much support as we can. Today the defense wasn’t too bad, and everything kind of came together a little bit.”

Kelly pitched the first three innings and allowed three runs on four hits. Then Robertson came on in the fourth. She allowed no runs and three hits the rest of the way.

“She got the ball around the plate,” Higgins said. “That’s the key. If you can do that, they put the ball in play, and at least you’ve got a chance.”

Maranacook took the early lead after Elise Linton and Amber Ridlon led off the game with a single and double respectively. Linton scored on a Lindsay Jackson fielder’s choice. Kelley was able to escape the threat with a pop up and ground up.

In the second, the Black Bears made it 2-0 after a pair of walks with two outs. Linton followed with an RBI single.

Leavitt erased that deficit and took the lead in the bottom of the inning. Bubier tripled in a pair of runs. Then Daigle followed with an RBI double and Perkins singled her in for a 4-2 lead.

“The offense is a lot better than last year,” Perkins said. “That was our downfall last year. On the JV team, they had a lot of good hitters, and they’re coming up.”

Maranacook got one back when Jackson doubled and scored on an error. Leavitt added a run in the bottom of the frame on a Nicole Bradley ground out that scored a run.

In the fourth, Leavitt broke the lead open. Deblois had a two-run single. Santomango had a fielder’s choice that made it 8-3. Then Gilbert singled in a run.

The lead went to 11-3 in the fifth on RBI singles by Eells and Perkins.

Then in the sixth, Leavitt closed out the game with four more runs on five hits. Leclerc scored on a wild pitch. Bradley plated another on a fielder’s choice. Daigle tripled in a run and scored on a Perkins single.

Though Perkins’ single gave Leavitt the 12-run lead to end the game, neither team or the umpires knew the game was over. One more batter came to the plate and got the final out of the inning.

Just as the teams prepared for the seventh inning, Leavitt realized the game should be over and pointed out the oversight to the umpires, prompting angry words from Maranacook coach Don Beckwith, apparently because nobody had noticed sooner. The game was immediately called because of the 12-run rule.

Jackson finished with two hits and two RBI for the Black Bears while Linton drove in a run with a pair of hits.

kmills@sunjournal.com