TURNER — Katie DeBlois has hit her share of shots in pregame batting.

But a good pop in practice never can compare with a beautiful belt in a ball game.

That was the case Friday afternoon when Leavitt’s junior first baseman flipped the game around with a first-inning wallop.

“During soft toss, I hit a lot of them,” said DeBlois. “In the game, it never really works out. I had one last year, but I just hit it in the right spot today, and it just went.”

It turned a Leavitt deficit into an instant lead and the Hornets barely looked back in a 16-4 win over Waterville in five innings.

Leavitt stumbled out of the gate and were down 2-0 in the first inning. The Hornets were fortunate that the Purple Panthers didn’t get more. The momentum quickly turned when DeBlois drilled a three-run homer to center, giving Leavitt an immediate 4-2 lead.

“I think the team was more excited than I was at that point,” DeBlois said. “That usually gets them going. It definitely jump-started us and that’s what we needed.”

DeBlois finished with two hits, four RBIs and three runs scored for Leavitt (4-1). Morgan Knowlton had three hits, two runs scored, two RBI and a nice running catch in left. Olivia Gilbert and Alanna Hartford also had a pair of hits each, and Hartford made a couple of nice defensive plays at short.

“I had some people playing in different positions,” Leavitt coach Kevin Leonard said. “They had a good gut-check, and they came back well. I’m really proud of them. They’re a good bunch of kids.”

With just three seniors and a new coach, taking over for longtime coach Peter Higgins, the Hornets are off to a strong start with a young club.

“There’s a new coach and things a little bit different from last year,” said DeBlois. We’re just working our way through and going game- by- game. It’s been working out well.”

Waterville (0-5) scored two in the first inning, taking advantage of three hits , two walks and an error. The Panthers even stranded three and could have had more. Coby Dangler and Madison Clowes each had RBI singles in the inning.

“We usually have one bad inning each game,” DeBlois said. “So it happened to be the first one today. We tried to get back going.”

Leavitt used a different lineup against Waterville and gave Angela Daigle a start.

“She hasn’t pitched in two years,” Leonard said. “So I wanted to squeeze three innings out of her to help get her ready for down the road. She did a good job.”

Daigle allowed four runs on five hits in three innings work. Abby Robertson came on in relief in the fourth and didn’t allow a hit in two innings work.

Leavitt answered Waterville’s two runs in the first when Knowlton reached on an error and later scored on a wild pitch. DeBlois followed a few batters later with her three-run homer. Gilbert and Green scored on an error on a Cierra Hilliard grounder to make it 6-2 after one.

Leavitt added to the lead in the second when Knowlton scored on an error after a double. Waterville got as close as 7-4 in the third. Dangler scored on an error and Rebecca Oakes later came in on a wild pitch.

Leavitt made it 8-4 in the third when Knowlton singled in a run. The lead went to 8-4 in the fourth when the Hornets scored five runs on seven hits. DeBlois doubled in a run and Green, Hartford, Knowlton and Delanie Strout had RBI singles.

The Hornets finished the job in the fifth when an Ashley Kelley fielder’s choice scored a run. The other two followed on a wild pitch and an error. Waterville finished with eight errors in the field.

“They’re coming around,” Leonard said of his team’s start. “We’ve only been outside for a couple weeks now. We’ve had a pretty good start. I’m really happy.”

kmills@sunournal.com