It took eight innings and over two hours of game action, but the Presque Isle High School softball team earned their first home victory of the season Wednesday evening in walk-off fashion, defeating Fort Kent by the score of 8-7. 

The game got off to a rough start for the Wildcats, who would allow five unanswered runs in the first four innings before the bats finally began to come alive in the latter stages of the contest. 

Junior Kiley Howlett tripled with one out and scored on an RBI from classmate Myah Bragdon to cut the deficit to four in the fourth, but the Warriors struck right back in the next inning, driving in a run of their own before the home team rallied their offense and knotted the game at six apiece thanks to runs from seniors Riley Davis, Rhylee Kinney and Meg Casavant, as well as sophomore Emily Straetz. 

Fort Kent added to their total in the sixth, once again forcing the Wildcats to come from behind, something that they waited until the very last possible moment to do, as senior Macie Bartley doubled with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the seventh to bring home the tying run and send the competition to extras. 

Several good defensive plays later, Presque Isle would find themselves right back at the plate, where, to the delight of everyone freezing in the crowd, they would waste no time securing the win. An infield single from Casavant brought Kinney home from third to ice the Warriors in the second meeting between the two schools this spring. 

“I was very nervous, but I knew I could do it,” Casavant said of her winning drive. “We battled back in the second half of the game after giving up a few runs, so it felt great to be able to come out with a win.”

Senior Hattie Bubar pitched a complete game for the Wildcats to earn the win, her team’s second of the season, as they look ahead towards a doubleheader at home against Hermon this Saturday.