Friday, June 13

Lady Vikings Softball Dominate Messalonskee In First Round Of Playoffs by Shannon Kriger

  As the Lady Vikings softball team of Oxford Hills took on the Messalonskee Eagles in their first playoff game on Wednesday, June 11th, they had victory on their minds.
    The Lady Vikings dominated the Eagles and easily won the game with a final score of 15-3.
    The Eagles had kept up with the Vikings up until the fourth quarter, when Oxford Hills scored off an error.  The Vikings kept their momentum rolling into the fifth inning and were a force to be reckoned with at bat. In this inning, the Vikings scored five more runs in hopes of shutting down the other team.
    The sixth inning was even more successful for the Lady Vikings. They brought in another eight runs in that one inning, setting the score to 15-3, mercy ruling the Messalonskee Eagles in the bottom of the sixth.
    Lady Vikings that really contributed to their triumphant victory were Annika Kahkonen, Crystal West, Kayleigh Knox, Erin Morton, and Anna Winslow, each of which got on base in the fifth and sixth innings due to tremendous swings.
    Kayleigh Knox, leading her team by being four for four at bat, comments on her prodigious job in the game, saying, “I knew how important this game was to our team, and if we lost, then our season was over. We had to leave it all on the field, and I was determined to help bring my team to the second round of playoffs- all of the girls were.”
The Lady Vikings are taking on the Cony Rams next in their journey throughout the playoffs. The Rams are the #1 seeded team in the Eastern Maine Class A softball tournament.
The last time the Lady Vikings faced the Cony Rams was in the regular season, barely losing to Cony in a hard fought, tension filled game.
Coach Goddard, the Lady Vikings softball coach, is hoping to get even further in the playoffs and blow the Cony Rams out of the water.
    When questioned on the Viking’s game against the Rams, Goddard declared “We have came way too far to just give in to the #1 seeded team. The girls have consistently proved that they deserve to be at the top of the tournament, and I have no doubt in my mind that my team will leave it all on the field in Cony.”