Messalonskee’s Kristen Dube slides into home to score a run before Mt. Blue catcher Rylee Briggs can put the tag on her during Monday’s softball game in Farmington. Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham

FARMINGTON — It was football weather at Prescott Field, but Messalonskee pitcher Danielle Hall was throwing strikes like it was an 80-degree day in western Maine.

Hall gave the Mt. Blue Cougars (3-1) the cold shoulder at the plate, striking out 16 batters, walking one and throwing a 12-0 no-hitter in a six-inning game after the 12-run rule came in to play on Monday.

Messalonskee pitcher Danielle Hall fires a pitch during Monday’s game against Mt. Blue. Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham

“I think that we just as a team felt really good coming into this game, just by our loss to Skowhegan, because we really battled hard in that game,” Hall said. “We were just up and everybody was ready to play and the energy flowed amongst us.

“It was a good day. I am really happy about it, and I knew that even though if they had a hit, the team was going to be there to back me up and that we would be able to get through it. I felt good. It was nice today. We were really enjoying that.”

The easygoing pitcher set down the side in order over four innings in jacket-weather conditions. The Cougars only reached base twice, when one was hit by a pitch and the other walked.

“She was definitely on today,” Messalonskee coach Samantha Moore said of Hall. “It’s really good to see coming out on a Monday after we took the weekend off. We came off three games in a row last week. (Hall) pitched two and a half of them.

“So for her to come back out on Monday and pitch like this, it is really good to see.”

With Hall holding down the fort from the circle, the Eagles’ (4-2) bats got into the swing of things to produce three three-run innings and 13 hits. But the Cougars also hurt their cause with five errors.

Mt. Blue coach Ron Smith chalked up the Cougars loss to a bad day.

Mt Blue’s Sidney Belanger slides under the tag of Messalonskee’s Alyssa Genness during Monday’s game. Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham

“Yes, (Hall) threw well,” Smith said. “We didn’t bat well. We look uncomfortable at the plate, swung at bad pitches. I don’t know how many strike-threes we just looked at in the middle of the plate — very, very uncomfortable. I don’t know exactly what she was doing. The batters were like, ‘Well, no, she is not overpowering.’ She is doing something because you are not picking the ball up.

“We committed more errors today than we did the other three games combined this year. For whatever reason, I don’t know what created it, but we just could not field the ball, and when we did field the ball, we couldn’t throw it. Everything you could come up with, we made an error … hopefully it was just today.”

Hall, who drove in three runs, was equally formidable in the batter’s box, belting a pair of hits that included a two-run double in the fourth inning. 

Teammate Hannah Cummings also had three hits and drove in a run, and Alyssa Genness collected two hits and three RBIs. 

“Good base running,” Moore said. “I think all around we did pretty well. Those two losses were against the top two teams in our league — and the loss against Skowhegan, we held them 1-0.”

And it didn’t hurt that the Eagles didn’t make a single error.

Messalonskee’s Kristen Dube slides into home to score a run before Mt. Blue catcher Rylee Briggs can put the tag on her during Monday’s softball game in Farmington. Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham

Mt Blue pitcher Maddy Smith delivers a pitch during Monday’s softball game against Messalonskee. Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham

Mt Blue’s Ashley Wiles can’t get a glove on a throw from her catcher as Messalonskee’s Danielle Hall steals second during Monday’s game in Farmington. Sun Journal photo by Russ Dillingham