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OTTER VALLEY UNION High School senior Sarah Morrison sends the ball into right field to advance a runner during Monday’s game against Bellows Falls. The Otters won the game in extra innings, 3-2. Independent photo/Trent Campbell

By ANDY KIRKALDY

BRANDON — On Monday, the Otter Valley Union High School softball team improved its record to 7-0, but it wasn’t easy: After uncharacteristic miscues OV rallied past visiting Bellows Falls in nine innings, 3-2.

The game’s big hit came from senior catcher Kelsey Knapp, who laced a one-out single up the middle in the ninth to score senior first baseman Ashlee Bird, who had ripped a single to right and moved to second on a wild pitch by hard-luck loser Sarah Harmon.

Harmon allowed just three hits and struck out nine, but walked three batters and threw three wild pitches. Those control problems figured into OV’s earlier runs, as did a two-out error in the sixth that allowed OV to score the tying run. 

OV ace Ashley Sanderson was even better. Sanderson, a junior, allowed two hits and one walk and fanned 17 batters. Both Terrier runs scored on two-out errors in the fifth inning.

Sanderson relied on her fastball, painted the corners all day and dominated the Terriers, as she has done to opposing hitters all season.

Yet coming into the spring, it might have been fair to call Sanderson and Knapp question marks: They each replaced three-year starters — pitcher Taryn Foster and catcher Jess Bilodeau. Knapp said at first that challenge was “nerve-wracking,” but that longtime OV coach Pattie Candon helped calm the butterflies.

“You feel like you have to be at that level,” she said. “But Miss Candon just tells us to go out there and try our best.”

Knapp said Sanderson, who has already tossed a no-hitter and shut out previously undefeated Mill River this spring, shared those initial worries, but has overcome them and is improving with every outing.  

“She was nervous coming in here, especially after Taryn left. So she just wanted to come in here and try her best, and her best is working,” Knapp said.

Candon notes that Sanderson and Knapp are not the only ones stepping into tough jobs: juniors Julie Ketcham and Jenna Pelkey took over at shortstop and third base, respectively, with Pelkey replacing another three-year standout, Nancy Laughlin.

Meanwhile, four of the five batters in the lineup are veterans: junior second baseman Sam Hanson, senior center fielder Megen Bradley, Bird and senior left fielder Sarah Morrison. Candon was asked how OV has been able to start so well after heavy graduation losses, and pointed to her pitcher and the chemistry developed by her veterans and newcomers, including the final starter, junior right fielder Jenelle Gallipo.

“They’re confident in each other and backing each other up, picking each other up,” she said. “We’ve made some mistakes and gotten down a little bit, but somebody’s been there always saying, ‘Don’t worry about it. Let’s go.’”  

On Monday, the Otters won against a solid Terrier team even though they didn’t play their best. The Otters made two errors in the first inning, but Sanderson struck out two hitters and made a nice play on a ground ball, and then didn’t allow a hit or another baserunner until the sixth.

OV took a 1-0 lead in the third without a hit. Bird walked, moved to second on a wild pitch, took third on a fly ball by Morrison, and scored on a wild pitch. The Otters didn’t get a hit until the fourth, when Bird singled.

In the BF sixth Sydney Dorn, the No. 9 hitter in the order, drew a lead-off walk. Kealy Chapman then broke up Sanderson’s no-hit bid with a line single just out of Hansen’s reach. Dorn raced to third on the play, and Chapman soon stole second to put two runners in scoring position.

Harmon tried a squeeze bunt, but Sanderson pounced and cut down Dorn at the plate, with Knapp perfectly blocked the dish. Sanderson got Sami Hodgkins to pop out, but Bird and Hansen bobbled grounders, allowing two runs to score.

OV came back in the bottom of the inning. Hansen walked, and after Harmon hit Bradley with a pitch they worked a double steal. Bradley tried to sacrifice, but was tagged out by BF first baseman Tia Billado, who held the runners. After Harmon fanned Bird, Billado booted Morrison’s ground ball, and Hansen scored.

Bradley singled in the OV eighth, but couldn’t advance. In the BF ninth Billado banged out BF’s second hit and moved to second on a throwing error. But Sanderson struck out batters on either side of a sac bunt, and then Bird and Knapp took care of business for OV.

OV faces a series of challenges the rest of the way, including two games with Division I rival Rutland; a game on Saturday at three-time defending D-II champion Lyndon, which entered this week with a 61-game winning streak; and road games at Mill River, Springfield and Bellows Falls.

Knapp said the Otters know the schedule gets tougher, but they plan to see if they can keep the ball rolling. 

“We’re going to try,” she said. “We’re just going to keep playing the way we are and see where it goes.”