AUGUSTA — Messalonskee High School softball coach Leo Bouchard knows this about his pitcher, Kirsten Pelletier. To put it mildly, Pelletier pitches better when she’s agitated.
So in the middle of Saturday’s Class A state championship game against Scarborough, when Bouchard felt Pelletier needed a little spark, he agitated her.
“I want to say it was about the fourth inning, maybe the fifth inning, I noticed a little bit of a decline in her velocity. So her and I had a discussion in the dugout about where she was sitting in the sun,” Bouchard said. “I asked her to move back. She said she was fine where she was. I said ‘I’m not happy with it. You need to move back. Get in the shade.’ That’s all it took. She carried that to the mound. She wasn’t happy.”
During the Eagles’ celebration after their 1-0 victory, Pelletier gave Bouchard a giant hug. The agitation was over. It had served its purpose.
The state title victory was Pelletier’s 16th of the season. None was more important, and none was more impressive. Pelletier gave up just two hits and struck out a dozen Scarborough hitters. The Red Storm hit the ball hard only once, a line drive by Kaleigh Scoville to lead off the sixth inning — but that went right at center fielder Kristy Prelgovisk.
Early in the game, some Messalonskee fans hung K’s on the center field fence of Cony Family Field, but stopped when Pelletier reached six strikeouts. It’s too bad they stopped, because Pelletier was only halfway there.
In examining Messalonskee’s outstanding pitching performance in the state championship game, do not overlook or underestimate the work of catcher Taylor Easler. Pelletier and Easler, both juniors, have been a battery since they were children.
“Quite a long time,” Pelletier said.
Easler has caught Pelletier enough so she knows, game by game, what pitches are working and what pitches will be thrown sporadically.
“Usually we notice it pretty quick,” Easler said.
On Saturday, Pelletier had a good fastball, a changeup that had Scarborough hitters swinging far too early, and a screwball that kept the Red Storm off balance. Bouchard let Easler call the pitches.
“I went to a coaches seminar back four or five years ago, and one of the biggest complaints from college coaches is that when catchers show up they don’t know how to call a game,” Bouchard said. “Those two girls, they know the competition. We scout what’s going on. (Easler) learned how to call a game. The thing is, Taylor can sit back and go, ‘I know this isn’t working today. We’re going to stay away from this.’ She knows how to read her pitcher.”
Scarborough put a runner on base in four innings, but never really came close to scoring. Of Pelletier’s 12 strikeouts, six came with a runner on base. Five ended an inning. When she had to be, Pelletier was dominant, getting outs with all her pitches.
“This whole season, we’ve really been focusing on her screwball, which has been really good the whole season, and throwing in the other pitches, like the changeups and the outside fastballs,” Easler said.
In most games, Pelletier and Easler will discuss what’s working and what it not between innings. On Saturday, that didn’t really happen, Pelletier said.
“Because we both felt what was working and we both know how to mix pitches up and keep them off balance. Normally, we’re always chatting,” Pelletier said.
Not surprisingly, Pelletier got better after her minor dustup with Bouchard. She retired the last seven hitters she faced.
“I like to be up close. I like to be in the game, even when I’m not playing. I didn’t want to move,” Pelletier said, laughing about the incident after the game.
When there was a slight delay in the top of the seventh, when the home plate umpire waited for a foul ball to be thrown back to the field, Pelletier looked impatient. Not because of nerves, because she was ready to pitch and end the game.
“I just wanted to get it done,” Pelletier said.
Pelletier got it done, all right, and with a big assist from Easler, was dominant on the state’s biggest stage.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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